Colin Jost has shared the correct way to pronounce his wife Scarlett Johansson’s last name. The SNL star who hosts the game show Pop Culture Jeopardy also explained the European origin of their names.
Colin Jost says many fans say Scarlett Johansson’s name wrong
Pop Culture Jeopardy host Colin Jost recently did a Q&A session on the show, where he explained to the audience, how to correctly pronounce his wife Scarlett Johansson’s last name. He weighed in on whether to enunciate the “J” in the Black Widow actress’ name and how he likes to say it.
“I certainly say Jo-hansson,” the Jost shared. “I mean, I don’t say it really ever… [like] ‘Yo, Johansson, why is the fridge empty?’” the Saturday Night Live star joked.
Johansson, who was born in New York, holds dual American and Danish citizenship. The actress has Scandinavian ancestry with her father originally hailing from Copenhagen and her paternal great-grandfather being Swedish.
Jost said that based on her Scandinavian heritage, “it was Yo-hansson probably originally.” The comedian added, “And I was probably ‘Yost’ in Germany. But now, that’s all long forgotten. So we changed together. All ancestors just coordinated and said, ‘Let’s get them together.’”
Johansson learned several tragic facts about her ancestors when she appeared on the PBS show Finding Your Roots in 2017. Her maternal great-grandfather emigrated from Poland to America in 1910 and earned his living by selling bananas on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
“I can only imagine he was coming from a place where he could not continue to survive,” Johansson said. “I think he must have come from some broken place, which would have caused him to go on a journey like this by himself.”
Johansson also broke down in tears after she learned that many of her Jewish great-grandfather’s family died in the Warsaw Ghetto, during the Holocaust.
