Jana Kramer and Sarah Drew Respond to Joke on SNL About Lifetime's First Holiday Movie Sex Scene

'A Cowboy Christmas Romance' premieres Saturday on Lifetime

Jana Kramer, Sarah Drew
A Cowboy Christmas Romance's Jana Kramer (left) and Sarah Drew. Photo:

David Becker/Getty, Michael Tullberg/Getty

Jana Kramer's A Cowboy Christmas Romance doesn’t premiere until Saturday, but it’s already gaining attention for including Lifetime’s first Christmas movie containing a sex scene.

The topic came up on this past weekend's Saturday Night Live when Michael Che made a joke during the show's news parody segment "Weekend Update."

“Next week, Lifetime will air their first Christmas movie featuring a sex scene,” began Che, 40. “The sex scene will finally explain why Santa named that one reindeer Vixen."

He added, "That’s a weird name for a reindeer, man.”

"Emma Stone, Noah Kahan" Episode 1850 -- Pictured: (l-r) Anchor Colin Jost and anchor Michael Che during Weekend Update on Saturday, December 2, 2023
Michael Che on 'Saturday Night Live'.

Will Heath/NBC via Getty 

Kramer, 40, appreciated the shoutout and posted on her Instagram Story Sunday: “My new movie made @nbsnl 😂”

Lifetime and A Cowboy Christmas Romance’s writer Sarah Drew jointly reposted the clip on Instagram, too, captioning it, “Lifetime officially made the naughty list 😂 #ACowboyChristmasRomance #ItsAWonderfulLifetime #SaturdayNightLive”

Actor Max Ehrich, 32, who plays Kramer’s brother in the movie, shared a similar sentiment on his Story on Sunday, writing, “@nbsnl put us on the naughty list this holiday season.”

A Cowboy Christmas Romance follows real estate agent Lexie Crenshaw (Kramer) as she returns to her Arizona hometown in an attempt to close a deal for the ranch next to one she grew up on. However, the neighboring rancher (Adam Senn) doesn’t want to sell, and the trip home dredges up past drama with Lexie’s own family.

Kramer, who welcomed her first child with fiancé Allan Russell in November, discussed the steamy relationship between her and Senn’s character while chatting with Drew, 43, on the Nov. 27 episode of iHeart's Whine Down podcast.

A+E Networks Lifetime's holiday movies 2023 A Cowboy Christmas Romance Jana Kramer
Jana Kramer in 'A Cowboy Christmas Romance'.

A+E Networks/Lifetime

“It’s the first Christmas movie that has sex scene,” Kramer said. “When I read it, I was like, This is going to be interesting. ’How are we going to do this with the baby belly?’ And so, we’re on this — spoiler alert — he lays me down on some hay and then I’m like, and then we, you know. And then, obviously it’s still Lifetime, it’s still family, but it was pushing the limits there too. But when they cut and then the next morning — the outtake, I was like, ‘We made a baby!’”

Drew approved of how the scene turned out.

“It all came out so beautifully,” Drew told Kramer. “But especially the scene in the kitchen, I had written into the stage directions: he pulls her up onto the counter, he shoves things off the table. I was like, ’Oh yeah, no, I put it all in there.’ I was like, ‘Don’t take the steam and the sex away from me. I wrote it on purpose.’”

They both appreciated that the sex scene made the final cut.

“I was actually surprised that Lifetime ... didn’t cut anything,” said Kramer, also mom to daughter Jolie, 7, and son Jace, 5, from her marriage to Mike Caussin. “I was so happy that they really left it all in there.”

Drew added, “How sad would that have been in that scene just got cut?”

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A Cowboy Christmas Romance premieres Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.

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