Stephen Colbert delights in Pete Hegseth reading from 'The Gospel of Tarantino'

Marina WattsFri, April 17, 2026 at 5:41 PM UTC

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Samuel L. Jackson; Stephen Colbert; Pete HegsethCredit: Miramax; CBS; Alex Wong/GettyKey Points -

Stephen Colbert poked fun at Pete Hegseth's remarks during a Pentagon worship service on Wednesday.

The late-night host mashed up the clips of the secretary of defense's prayer and Pulp Fiction.

The Pentagon defended Hegseth's modified version of the Pulp Fiction dialogue in a statement shared yesterday.

Stephen Colbert has faith in Pete Hegseth.

During his monologue from the April 16 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the late-night host spoke about the Secretary of Defense's prayer during a Pentagon worship service that resembled a classic movie quote.

Colbert threw to a clip of Hegseth setting up the prayer, which he claims the lead planner of the Combat Search and Rescue operation said before the Air Force airman rescue mission earlier this month. "They call it CSAR 25:17," the defense secretary says — a nod to Ezekiel 25:17, the verse erroneously cited as the source of the biblical passage Samuel L. Jackson quotes throughout 1994's Pulp Fiction. (Which itself was adapted from the introduction to the American cut of the 1973 martial-arts movie Bodyguard Kiba.)

"The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men," Hegseth says in the clip. The Late Show then cut to footage of Samuel L. Jackson in character as Pulp Fiction hitman Jules Winnfield: "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the terror of evil men," he says.

Pete Hegseth in Arlington, Virginia in April 2026Credit: Alex Wong/Getty

"That's quoting from the gospel of Quentin Tarantino," quipped Colbert. "If you're not familiar with that gospel, it's like the regular Bible, but Tarantino's Jesus says the N-word a lot. Also, Quentin's version really lingers on the feet-washing stuff."

Hegseth and Jackson's versions of the prayer continue line by line, which Colbert compared to "your self-tape versus the guy who actually got the part."

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"But despite all this, I want Hegseth to succeed. He's the secretary of defense. If he succeeds, that means America succeeds. So, please join me in prayer," continued Colbert before riffing on iconic quotes from Taxi Driver, Forrest Gump, and Snakes on a Plane. "God, I'm talking to you. You talking to me? Are you talking to me? War is like a box of chocolates. I am tired of these motherf---ing sins on my motherf---ing soul."

Entertainment Weekly reached out to the White House and did not receive an immediate response.

Only the conclusion of Jules' Ezekiel 25:17 has genuine biblical roots; the King James Version of the verse reads "And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay My vengeance upon them." In Hegseth's recitation, he alters the verse slightly, replacing "I am the Lord" with "My call sign is Sandy One."

John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in 'Pulp Fiction'Credit: Miramax/Courtesy Everett Collection

The Pentagon released a statement on Thursday defending Hegseth's statement at the worship service. "Secretary Hegseth on Wednesday shared a custom prayer, referenced as the CSAR prayer, used by the brave warfighters of Sandy-1, who led the daylight rescue mission of Dude 44 Alpha out of Iran, which was obviously inspired by dialogue in Pulp Fiction," Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs and chief Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement shared to social media.

"However, both the CSAR prayer and the dialogue in Pulp Fiction were reflections of the verse Ezekiel 25:17, as Secretary Hegseth clearly said in his remarks at the prayer service," he continued. "Anyone saying the Secretary misquoted Ezekiel 25:17 is peddling fake news and ignorant of reality."

See Stephen Colbert's full opening monologue below.

on Entertainment Weekly

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