Ayo Edebiri seemingly referenced past comments she made about Jennifer Lopez during her “Saturday Night Live” debut.
Edebiri hosted the late night sketch comedy show for the first time on Saturday, Feb. 3 alongside Lopez, who appeared as the musical guest.
In the days leading up to the show, a resurfaced clip from a February 2020 episode of the podcast “Scam Goddess” made the rounds on social media where Edebiri said that Lopez’s “whole career is one long scam.”
“The Bear” star had a moment during her “SNL” hosting gig to give a humorous nod to the comments during a sketch called “Why’d You Say It.” The game show, hosted by Kenan Thompson, had contestants answer questions about questionable comments that they left on Instagram.
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By the end of the sketch, Edebiri and her fellow contestants, portrayed by cast members Chloe Fineman and Andrew Dismukes, had already addressed several of their offhand and critical comments on social media.
In an outburst, the 28-year-old actor said that she understood the purpose of the game, telling Thompson, “We get it. It’s wrong to leave mean comments, or post comments just for clout, or run your mouth on a podcast, and you don’t consider the impact because you’re 24 and stupid.”
“But I think I speak for everyone when I say from now on, we’re going to be a lot more thoughtful about what we post online,” she added.
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Despite the podcast episode airing four years prior, Edebiri’s comments about Lopez gained traction ahead of their joint appearance on “SNL.”
In the episode, the actor told host Laci Mosley, “I appreciate a good scam. Today, I was actually thinking about one of my favorite scams of all time because J.Lo is performing at the Super Bowl half-time show.”
“She thinks she’s on multiple tracks, but it’s not her,” Edebiri said, claiming that other artist’s voices would be in her place, including Ashanti and Christina Milian. “I think she thinks that she’s still good, even though she’s not singing for most of these songs.”
She continued her commentary, adding, “I was reading up because I became fascinated and a lot of the write-ups of the songs will be like, ‘J.Lo didn’t have time to make it to the studio,’ like, ‘J.Lo was busy.’ Doing what? Not singing, obviously.”
While the pair didn’t appear in any sketches together, Edebiri and Lopez shared a moment during a promo video for the episode.
In the clip, Lopez said she was “really excited” for the episode and complimented the actor, telling Edebiri, “I love your show.”
“I love your everything,” Edebiri replied.
It’s already been a big year for the actor. She took home best supporting actress in a comedy series at the Emmy Awards in January a week after she won a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV musical or comedy.
Edebiri appeared to get emotional at the start of her monologue as she expressed her excitement to be there, telling the crowd, “‘SNL’ means so much to me. This really is a dream come true.”
To conclude her hilarious monologue, Edebiri took a more serious note, sharing that she was “genuinely so excited” for the show.
“I came up in the New York comedy scene with some of my best friends who I am so blessed to be working with here tonight,” she said. “And it really truly feels like a homecoming.”
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