Overview
- Jost told The Tonight Show audience on Thursday that writers rejected his cold‑open idea as “too ridiculous” after he pitched Pete Hegseth reciting Pulp Fiction’s faux Ezekiel verse.
- The real‑life echo came at a Pentagon worship service on April 15, when Hegseth led a prayer labeled “CSAR 25:17” that tracked the movie speech about vengeance and “the tyranny of evil men.”
- The phrasing mirrored Samuel L. Jackson’s monologue more than the Bible’s Ezekiel 25:17, which is a short line about God’s vengeance found in scripture.
- The Pentagon, through spokesman Sean Parnell, defended the recital as a Combat Search and Rescue tradition inspired by the film and dismissed claims of misquoting scripture as “fake news.”
- Jost’s account has fueled a fresh round of coverage that underscores questions over using religious and pop‑culture language at official Pentagon prayer services.