Walton Goggins steers clear of Aimee Lou Wood drama on SNL, brings spotlight on sex symbol tag

Walton Goggins used his Saturday Night Live monologue to reflect on being a sex symbol at 53.

Actor Walton Goggins made his Saturday Night Live (SNL) hosting debut over the weekend, bringing the funny without bringing up the drama. That’s because he steered clear of addressing the rumoured rift between him and his The White Lotus co-star Aimee Lou Wood, keeping the spotlight on the show's humour and the ‘sex symbol’ tag.

Walton Goggins made his Saturday Night Live (SNL) hosting debut on May 10.

Walton Goggins gets his charm on SNL

The actor, 53, made his Saturday Night Live hosting debut on May 10, while Arcade Fire served as the musical guest. Throughout the show, Walton made no mention of the rift rumours.

In his opening monologue, he did mention his involvement in the series, saying, “Most of you probably know me from The White Lotus. No spoilers, but I die”.

Walton then talked about how the internet seemed to find his “brooding” character “attractive.”

“Some of my friends have even asked me, ‘What does it feel like to become a sex symbol at 53 years old?’ And you know what, if I’m being honest, it feels fantastic,” he shared.

“At least it did, until I Googled myself and read some of the headlines,” he added, and then pointed to news articles that mentioned his “bulging” eyes and “receding hairline”.

After pulling up the headline 'Hollywood’s Newest Heartthrob Is a Greasy, Depressing Little Man Whom No One Saw Coming’, Walton joked, “Thank you? For some reason, the part of that headline that offends me the most is the word ‘whom.’ It just sounds pretentious”.

Walton also spoke about his upbringing and then invited his mother onto the stage. The two began slow dancing before surprising the audience with their tap-dancing skills.

More about the feud

The rumours around feud rumours between Walton, 53, and Aimee, 31, surfaced in April after fans noticed that the co-stars weren’t following each other on Instagram. Some fans were even convinced that the pair, who played love interests on the hit show, had blocked each other

Their fellow co-star, Jason Isaacs, further fueled the buzz of a falling out when he admitted, without naming names, that there were arguments on the Thailand set of the series. “People have to remember it was the actors and the crew and (inaudible) — all these people are in a little pressure cooker together,” he said on SiriusXM show The Happy Hour. Walton’s SNL appearance comes over a month after The White Lotus Season 3 finished airing on HBO.