Gritty Gets 'Saturday Night Live' Shout Out

PHILADELPHIA – Gritty's meteoric rise to stardom has been tracked by all sorts of people, including Flyers fans, local media, political activists, and sports experts. And that rise continued Saturday as he got a shout out on "Saturday Night Live's" Weekend Update.

In the segment, Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost talked about Gritty participating in the tree lighting at City Hall Friday, Nov. 29.

"Gritty was a last minute replacement for Santa Clause, who was busy trying to escape from Gritty's trunk," Jost said.

As his punchline hit, the graphic showing a typical shot of Gritty changed to a dark, comedic one.

The image showed a bound and bloody Santa Claus in the trunk of car with Gritty ready to close it up.

Gritty has drawn the attention of the nation since his first-maligned debut. After the fuzzy, wild-eyed, orange hooligan made his fist appearance – which prompted a lot of "what the heck is that?" responses – Flyers fans and Philadelphians in general embraced the scamp with open hearts.

He appeared on "The Late Show With Jimmy Fallon," got mentioned in a September "SNL" episode, and even had an impostor make an appearance on "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver."

Image via YouTube screenshot