Jalen Brunson popped up on Emmys night to steady his longtime friend’s nerves.
The Knicks point guard, 30, made a pre-taped cameo during Mariska Hargitay’s opening monologue at the 78th Emmy Awards on Monday at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star, 62, was the first woman to host the ceremony solo in 15 years.
In the clip, Hargitay was seen steaming her ceremony dress.
“It’s just a lot of pressure,” she said.
“Have you ever felt like you had millions of eyes on you and it just comes down to one night,” she added, as the camera panned to Brunson, who was steaming his New York Knicks jersey.
“Seriously,” Brunson responded, a nod to the Knicks’ 2026 NBA Championship victory.
“Hey Jalen, it’s just me. I don’t have anyone to tap it in for me,” Hargitay fired back, as Brunson shook his head. She then rushed off to her filmed opener, which featured her singing Queen’s 1977 anthem “We Will Rock You.”
The cameo capped months of public camaraderie between the two Knicks superfans. Brunson had named Hargitay his “No. 1” during an appearance on “The Richard Jefferson Show” after the NBA Finals in June.
“Love her to death [and] she knows it,” he said at the time.
Hargitay, for her part, had teased the possibility of Brunson’s involvement just last week in a Hollywood Reporter interview. When asked whether he would appear, she quipped, “Not sure, but maybe OG [Anunoby] will come flying in with 1.2 seconds left,” referencing her favorite player’s teammate and his game-winning shot in Game 4 of the Finals.
Reports said Monday that Brunson’s appearance would indeed be pre-taped rather than live. Ahead of the ceremony, the point guard had been spotted around New York City. He attended Harry Styles’ Madison Square Garden residency show on Saturday, where the former One Direction member called him “the king of New York.” Brunson also took in the US Open on the days before and after the concert, sitting beside fellow Knicks diehard Ben Stiller.
Stiller and Hargitay had both been front and center when Brunson’s team clinched the championship in June. Yet it was Hargitay whom Brunson singled out as the person he always scans for on the sidelines.
After the Finals win, Brunson joked that his next move was “to try to go to ‘SVU.'” Hargitay later teased that something was “in the works.” He followed through by showing up at one of her Broadway performances in “Every Brilliant Thing,” where the pair posed backstage with their respective spouses, Ali Marks and Peter Hermann.
Hargitay was announced as Emmys host the following month. She called the gig “my great honor” in a statement, adding, “Bringing important stories into the light has been the heartbeat of my career.”
The 78th Emmy Awards aired live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
