Walton Goggins made his Saturday Night Live hosting debut on the May 10 episode
The actor made no mention of the rift rumors between himself and his The White Lotus costar Aimee Lou Wood throughout the show
Many fans believed the two former costars had a falling out after playing love interests on the HBO series
Live from Studio 8H — it’s Walton Goggins!
The actor, 53, made his Saturday Night Live hosting debut on May 10, while Arcade Fire served as the musical guest. Throughout the show, Goggins made no mention of the rift rumors between himself and his The White Lotus costar Aimee Lou Wood.
In his opening monologue, he did mention his involvement in the series, however, stating, “Most of you probably know me from The White Lotus. No spoilers, but I die.”
Describing his character as “bruting,” Goggins highlighted that “the internet seemed to find that attractive,” adding: “Some of my friends have even asked me 1. What does it feel like to become a sex symbol at 53 years old? And you know what, if I’m being honest, it feels fantastic.”
“At least it did, until I Googled myself and read some of the headlines,” the star continued, then pointing to news articles that focused on his “receding hairline” and “bulging” eyes.
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Goggins and Wood starred in season 3 of The White Lotus as love interests Rick and Chelsea. Following the popular HBO series’ most recent finale, eagle-eyed fans noticed the pair stopped following each other on social media.
Some White Lotus fans noticed that Wood’s comments on Goggins’ previous Instagram posts seemingly disappeared, indicating that one of them may have gotten blocked, and they further fueled rift rumors after sharing Instagram posts reflecting on their characters’ storylines, but without tagging each other in the photos.
Weeks later, Goggins stopped an interview after a journalist’s persistent questions about the rumored feud. “I’m not gonna have that conversation,” the actor told U.K. newspaper The Times when asked about the topic. His two publicists also shut down the inquiries, with one saying, “We’re not going there, thank you,” while the other told the journalist, “Next question.”
Not long after that, Goggins and Wood surprised fans when they began following each other on Instagram again.
Saturday Night Live/YouTube
Walton Goggins on SNL
Goggins’ SNL hosting gig took place after the late-night comedy sketch series parodied the HBO show with a sketch called “The White Potus” that aired during the April 12 episode.
In it, Sarah Sherman controversially parodied Wood, and the actress responded, calling the portrayal “mean and unfunny.”
Days later, Wood shared a post on her Instagram Stories, revealing that Sherman, 32, had sent her a bouquet amid backlash to the sketch.
Goggins, for his part, had also seen the sketch, but he instead wrote in the comments of SNL‘s Instagram post showing the parody: “Hahahahahhahaha Amazzzingggg.”
Saturday Night Live airs weekends on NBC. All three seasons of The White Lotus are available to stream in full on Max.
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