'Gross': Ted Cruz Freaks Out Social Media After Calling Scarlett Johansson 'Hot' During Chat With Katie Britt

Sen. Ted Cruz tried to console Sen. Katie Britt after Saturday Night Live spoofed her response to Joe Biden's State of the Union address by gushing over how "hot" Scarlett Johansson is, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Critics were grossed out by the Texas lawmaker salivating over Johansson, 39, during a recent episode of his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.

During the Alabama senator's interview with Cruz, Johansson's portrayal of her "scary mom" SOTU Republican response was a hot topic — literally.

Cruz appeared to try to make Britt feel better about being mercilessly mocked online by saying, "The thing that was the coolest is you’re played by Scarlett Johansson. Scarlett Johansson is hot."

"I am genuinely jealous ’cause, look, SNL has come after me a bunch of times, they don’t ever have Tom Cruise play me!" Cruz added. "How come you get a gorgeous movie star?… That is a real compliment that you ought to be pretty psyched with."

Britt played along, "Well I actually was pretty pumped about that. You wonder who in the world is gonna play you, right? And I’ll be honest with you, a bingo card of 2024 for Katie Britt, I did not have this on it, right? And so certainly didn’t have Scarlett Johansson playing me."

"We were talking to the kids about all of it and they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, mom,’ and da da da, and I said, ‘Look, it could be worse,'" Britt added. "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."

Cruz joked, By the way, in terms of Republican portrayals, like they have had some vicious ones. Okay, let’s start off with at least you were played by a woman. So when SNL has had me, I’ve also been played by a woman."

While Britt was a good sport about the SNL parody, critics online were grossed out by Cruz gushing over Johansson.

On X, formerly Twitter, one user wrote, "@tedcruz You calling anyone "hot" makes stomachs turn at every corner. Do not do that."

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Another user declared, "Ewwwww. Ted calling anyone hot is gross."

"Gross. Not that his wife would care," a third wrote alongside clown emojis in a throwback reference to Donald Trump mocking Cruz's wife's appearance on the 2016 campaign trail.