Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) reassured her that everything “will be fine” before she delivered the State of the Union response that has since been ridiculed online.
Britt talked with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on his recent podcast episode aired Wednesday, discussing her experience with getting ready for the response and the criticism that followed. She said Johnson had called her to ask if she could deliver the reply, telling her not to worry.
“And the interesting thing is he’s like, you know, don’t worry about, you know, people are going to tell you horror stories about all of these things that happen and people’s career being blown up over it, and he’s like, ‘It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine,’” she said.
“And he was he was so kind and just and really welcoming. And you know, I think it was a great conversation. But the irony that he’s like, don’t you worry,” she added.
She also said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called her before Johnson did to ask if she could deliver the response. She described being asked as an “out of body experience,” but asked McConnell if she could have some time to think about it.
“And so I talked to both of them and obviously, then finally accepted doing it, but still kind of thought is this even for real? I mean, I haven’t even given a floor speech yet, you know at the Senate yet, but was excited,” she said. “And particularly as you as you mentioned earlier, being you know, the only Republican female with school-aged kids and kind of bringing that like next-generation voice.”
Britt’s response to President Biden’s State of the Union address was met with strong criticism and scrutiny for what many described as an unnatural speech. Actress Scarlett Johansson portrayed Britt in the cold open for “Saturday Night Live,” mocking the junior senator for her response delivered from her kitchen table.
Britt laughed about Johansson’s parody of her, saying she was “pretty pumped” the actress played her on “Saturday Night Live.”
“And I said you know, look, it could be worse. I mean, Scarlett Johansson. Here, you have ‘Black Widow.’ They bring in someone from Avengers to play me in the cold open. I’m here for it,” she said.
The Hill has reached out to Johnson for comment.
