Stephen Colbert Mocks Pete Hegseth for Quoting Prayer Cribbed From ‘Pulp Fiction’

Stephen Colbert derided Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for “quoting from the gospel of Quentin Tarantino” after Hegseth read a prayer that nearly quotes Pulp Fiction word for word.

“If you’re not familiar with that gospel, it’s like the regular Bible, but Tarantino’s Jesus says the N-word a lot,” Colbert said in his monologue on The Late Show on Thursday, April 16. “Also, Quentin’s version really lingers on the feet washing stuff.”

Hegseth read his version of the verses at a Pentagon worship service on Wednesday, according to The Independent. He said that he got the prayer from the lead mission planner of Sandy 1 — the rescue mission that rescued downed U.S. airmen in Iran earlier this month — and that the prayer is called CSAR 25:17 in a play on Ezekiel 25:17 that references Combat Search and Rescue.

Then Hegseth launched into the prayer: “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil man. Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother, and you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee. Amen,” Hegseth said.

In Pulp Fiction, Samuel L. Jackson’s character offers a similar scripture reading as he quotes a fictional version of Ezekiel 25:17: “The path of righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.”

As The Independent points out, the actual Ezekiel 25:17 reads: “And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.”

Related

Stephen Colbert’s CBS Exit Won’t Be Scorched Earth, Ben Karlin Says

On The Late Show, Colbert noted that compared to Jackson’s line reading, Hegseth’s performance “feels like your self-tape versus the guy who actually got the part.”

Then Colbert offered his own cinema-citing prayer: “God, I’m talkin’ to you. You talkin’ to me? Are you talkin’ to me? War is like a box of chocolates. I am tired of these motherf***ing sins on my motherf***ing soul! That’ll do, God. That’ll do.”

Colbert wasn’t the only TV personality lampooning Hegseth on Thursday’s Late Show episode: Guest Anderson Cooper referred to Hegseth as “Secretary Samuel Jackson.”

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Weeknights, 11:35/10:35c, CBS