Saturday Night Live comedian Marcello Hernandez took aim at some of sports' biggest names during his hosting duties at the 2026 ESPYs on Wednesday night, delivering a 10-minute monologue that spared no one—not even golf legend Tiger Woods and former NFL coach Bill Belichick.
The ceremony, held at the David H. Koch Theater in New York City, featured Hernandez wielding comedy as his weapon of choice. Among his most memorable jabs was a reference to Woods appearing on the cover of the next Grand Theft Auto video game—a pointed allusion to the golfer's March arrest following a DUI rollover crash.
Hernandez also targeted Belichick's personal life, crafting a joke around the coach's relationship with girlfriend Jordon Hudson. The comedian quipped that when the New York Knicks last captured an NBA championship 53 years ago, Belichick was the same age Hudson is today. While the mathematics may not align perfectly, the audience responded with considerable laughter.
The SNL performer cast a wide net during his opening remarks, also taking shots at boxer Jake Paul for his tendency to fight older opponents. New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson received the "nepo baby" treatment in what the comedian framed as a lighthearted manner. The entire WNBA also found itself in Hernandez's crosshairs during the wide-ranging routine.
According to TMZ.com, Paul himself appeared amused by the joke at his expense. The boxer, who has built a controversial career partly through matchups with aging fighters, reportedly chuckled at the reference.
Notably absent from the monologue was any mention of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's recent wedding in New York City—a topic that might have seemed inevitable given the couple's high profile and the ceremony's Big Apple location. Whether Hernandez considered such material too obvious or simply chose to focus elsewhere remains unclear.
The ESPYs, which honor excellence in sports performance, provided Hernandez with a platform to demonstrate his comedic range beyond his Saturday Night Live sketches. His willingness to target both active athletes and retired legends alike established a tone that balanced irreverence with entertainment, drawing some of the evening's biggest reactions from the audience at the David H. Koch Theater.
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Ava Hart
Ava Hart is a pop culture junkie and loves to share what's happening in Hollywood and what trends are taking the world by storm.
