SNL
Saturday Night Live has been entertaining Americans for over 40 years. Over the years the show had had many great moments with some amazing celebrity appearances. But the show hasn't come without its controversies. Some have even ended in permanent bans.
These controversies have been caused by guests and hosts alike. Some used the stage to spread their own messages which was a big no-no. Other regular cast members also bombed their careers.
Sinéad O'Connor
In 1992 one of the most famous controversies on SNL happened. Guest Sinead O'Conner took out a photo of Pope John Paul II and ripped it up. She then said, "fight the real enemy".
O'Connor surprised everyone as she gave no indication of planning that in all of her rehearsals. Even though she has been banned from SNL history had vindicated her.
Adrien Brody
In 2003 host Adrien Brody wore fake dreadlocks and put on a Jamaican accent to welcome their musical guest Sean Paul who was Jamaican.
Lorne Michaels, a producer on SNL didn't take what Brody did lightly. He was promptly banned over the racist joke and never welcomed back. According to him, it was completely unplanned.
Rage Against the Machine
This has to be some kind of record. Rage Against The Machine was banned before even making it through their entire performance. What did they do wrong? They played in front of an upside-down American flag.
But we don't know how they didn't see it coming. Rage Against The Machine was known to do things like this. Just look at their performance at Woodstock in 1994.
Martin Lawrence
Martin Lawrence was a guest in 1994 and decided to make a lot of remarks about female hygiene. Let's just say this was controversial to say the least.
When the show was rerun on television the offending portion was replaced with a voiceover from writer Jim Downey that said the excised portion “…was a frank and lively presentation, and nearly cost us all our jobs.” Lawrence has never shown up on SNL again.
Cypress Hill
In 1994 DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill wanted to celebrate their appearance on the stage by lighting up well... a joint.
We don't know why he thought it would be appropriate to do, maybe it was a statement? Either way, it ended up being their very first, and their very last appearance on SNL.
Steven Seagal
We're not sure why but apparently Steven Seagal was "hard to work with" when he hosted SNL in 1991. But ever since he has not been allowed to host again.
Lorne Michaels even mentioned Seagal when he hosted. He called him the biggest jerk to host the show while he spoke to Nicholas Cage.
The Replacements
The Replacements appeared on SNL in 1986, they were excited to break into the mainstream. But then they ruined their chances.
Rolling Stone said that the band “got drunk, said the f-word just off mic during their first song, switched clothes for their second, and rang up $1100 in hotel damages.” Lorne Michaels was so upset over the incident that he nearly banned all Warner Brothers musicians after that. Luckily that never happened.
Andy Kaufman
Andy Kaufman was a regular guest on the show and by 1982 many knew about his peculiar act that made him a divisive figure.
The show decided to host a poll where people could call in and vote on whether they would keep Andy or dump him. Unfortunately, Andy lost with more votes going to the "dump" option.
Robert Blake
In 1982, actor Robert Blake was banned from ever returning to SNL after he tore up a script he was unsatisfied with and threw it at the feet of writer Gary Kroeger while preparing to host an episode.
Considering Blake was later charged with murdering his wife in 2001, we’d say he banning seems to have been for the best.
Fear
California punk Fear band decided to do something different on SNL’s 1981 Halloween episode. They enlisted a group of slam dancers (including actor and SNL alum John Belushi, who had gotten the gig for the group) to mosh in front of the stage as they played.
Things got out of hand from there, and by the end of their performance somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000 worth of damage had been done to the set. Fear was never allowed to play the show again.
Milton Berle
By 1979, Milton Berle was already established as a television legend.
However, that didn’t make the cast and crew of SNL like him any better. Berle’s ad libs, musical performance, and prearranged standing ovation did not sit well with those on the show, especially Lorne Michaels who banned Berle and didn’t allow the episode to enter syndication for over 20 years.
Frank Zappa
After successfully performing as a musical guest in 1976, rocker Frank Zappa was asked back to host the show in 1978. However, to say his show didn’t go well would be an understatement.
According to one of the show’s writers, “the Frank Zappa show was like one of the worst ever.” Ouch. Zappa was never invited back.
Charles Grodin
In the week leading up to his October 1977 hosting gig, actor and television host Charles Grodin missed several rehearsals. Suffice to say, that left him unprepared for the live broadcast.
He forgot lines, messed up the timing of numerous sketches, and even forgot the show was live (no word on whether he remembered it was Saturday night). Grodin was never invited back.
Elvis Costello
In 1977, Elvis Costello provided one of the most famous musical moments in SNL history when he defied his record company (who wanted him to play the single “Less Than Zero”) and instead broke into the song “Radio Radio.”
While it made for good tv, Costello’s stunt didn’t go over well with producers who were caught unaware. Costello earned himself an SNL ban for well over a decade, though he has since returned, and even poked fun at the incident on the 25th Anniversary Special.
Ashlee Simpson
In 2004, Ashlee Simpson graced SNL with perhaps the most famous Irish Jig in television history. The pop starlet broke into the awkward dance after a tape of her song “Pieces of Me” – complete with vocals – began playing over the intro to her second song, revealing that her earlier performance had been lip-synced.
Simpson first blamed her band, then a case of acid reflux for the error, but the damage was done to her reputation. She returned to SNL in 2005, but hasn’t been back since.
Andrew Dice Clay
Lorne Micheals’ choice of comedian Andrew Dice Clay to host a 1990 episode of the show was controversial before it even aired.
Women’s groups protested, members of the cast were upset (see the next slide for more), and NBC insisted on a 7 second delay to ensure that any profanities could be censored. In the end, Clay stuck to the script and the episode was rather humdrum, but Clay was never invited back.
Nora Dunn
Andrew Dice Clay’s appearance did allegedly lead to actresses Nora Dunn being blacklisted from SNL. The five year veteran of the series boycotted Clay’s appearance, and in-turn was left out of the following episode, which was the season finale and was then fired.
However, according to Jon Lovitz, plans to let Dunn go were in play before the Dice Clay incident: “It’s the last show of the season. Nora… she caused a lot of trouble. [She] was very hard to get along with, and they weren’t going to ask her back, anyway… and this is how the press works. And I’m telling you I’m on the inside of this. They don’t know the story. It’s like she’s just doing it to get press. It’s her last hurrah. They’re not asking her back onto the show.”
Donald Trump
Donald Trump controversially hosted SNL right in the midst of his 2016 primary campaign for president.
Cast members were upset at what they felt was the implication that they were supporting Trump as candidate, while political groups called into question if Trump’s guest spot violated equal time laws. Trump hasn’t appeared since, and given the way the series has treated him since his inauguration, it’s unlikely there will be a reunion any time soon.
Kanye West
Kanye West 2018 appearance was a musical guest became a minor controversy when he donned a Donald Trump “MAGA” cap for his second song, and proceeded to go on a “pro-Trump” rant that didn’t air live, but was posted to Instagram by Chris Rock.
Cast members including Pete Davidson and Kenan Thompson spoke negatively about West’s appearance in the following weeks.
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler was one of the most popular SNL stars of the mid-1990s. However, that didn’t stop Lorne Michaels from firing him in 1995. Sandler went on to become one of the most successful, and bankable movie stars of all time over the next 25 yers, but always seemed to hold a bit of a grudge against SNL.
Sandler finally retuned to host in 2019, though his opening monologue certainly spelled out his feelings: “Yeah, I was fired, I was fired, NBC said that I was done. Then I made over 4 billion dollars at the box office, so I guess you could say I won.”
Charles Rocket
During a 1981 episode, cast member Charles Rocket was performing with actress Charlene Tilton in a parody of the latter’s hot series Dallas.
During the sketch, Rocket let an F-Bomb slip out, which quickly left to the end of his SNL tenure.
Sam Kinison
During a 1986 appearance, standup comic Sam Kinison made a several unapproved jokes that NBC edited out of the show’s west coast airing
This includes one about the crucifixion and another about drugs the went, “You can’t get any more pot. If you give us back the pot, we’ll forget the crack.”
System of a Down
Midway through a 2005 performance of their song B.Y.O.B. System of a Down guitarist Darren Malakian let out an impromptu yell of “F*** YEAH!” which slipped past NBC’s censors and aired on the east coast, though it was edited out of airings on the west coast.
The incident got the band in hot water with producers.
Shane Gillis
Shane Gillis holds the dubious distinction of being banned from SNL before he ever even appeared on the series.
Just hours after his hiring was announced, videos of the comedian using racist and homophobic slurs were unearthed. He was promptly fired.
Jenny Slate
Comedian Jenny slate made her SNL debut in September 2009… and an incident on her very first episode doomed her tenure.
During a sketch that made extensive use of the word “friggin” Slate dropped an F-Bomb. She was “pulled back” from future episodes and fired at the end of the season.
Claudine Longet
Claudine Longet never appeared on SNL, but the French pop singer and actress is at the center of one of the show’s biggest controversies. In 1976, she allegedly shot and killed skier Vladimir “Spider” Sabich.
Several weeks after the murder, SNL aired a sketch featuring stock footage of falling skiers overdubbed with gunshots with the title “The Claudine Longet Invitational”. The sketch led to a cease-and-desist from Longet’s lawyer, a public apology from the show, and the sketch being pulled.
Fred Armisen
In the early 2010s, cast member Fred Armisen caught flack from many for an impersonation of New York’s legally blind-then governor David Paterson.
The impersonation often included Armisen wandering into and to of camera, leading many to condemn the show for mocking the disabled. Paterson himself appeared on the series in 2010 in a sketch with Armisen.
Pete Davidson
We could likely write whole gallery on Pete Davidson controversies, but the biggest SNL specific one he’s been involved in came in 2018 when he said of congressmen Dan Crenshaw (who lost his eye in Iraq), “You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate from Texas, and not a hit man in a porno movie.”
The quote led to a litany of criticism, and Crenshaw appeared on the following week’s show and received an in-person apology from Davidson.
Matthew Broderick, Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Dennis Miller, and Jon Lovitz
In 1988, host Matthew Broderick appeared in a sketch with Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Dennis Miller, and Jon Lovitz. The foursome were at a nude beach, and uttered the word penis over 40 times during the sketch.
According to writer William Clotworthy, “We knew we’d hear from the public, and did we! The sketch generated 46 thousand letters of complaint. 45,999 were form letters sent to Reverend Donald Wildmon and his American Family Association…”
Larry David
Comedy legend Larry David (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm) found himself in trouble for a monologue joke he made while hosting in 2017. David, himself Jewish, made a crack about hitting on women in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.
The Anti-Defamation League wasn’t laughing, calling the joke “offensive, insensitive & unfunny all at same time.”
Gal Gadot Plants One On Kate McKinnon
In what turned out to be a classic Kate McKinnon skit, Gal Gadot made a guest appearance with a Wonder Woman lookalike character. Two ladies lost at sea, Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon, kickstarted the WW parody on an important journey.
After docking their boat on the island, they decided they wouldn’t make it home, so Themyscira was their next best option. In hopes of finding more women with the same orientation, the were greeted with a big let-down, but not before Gal planted a big smooch on Kate.
Katy Perry's Sesame Street
Katy Perry was playing the role of a children’s library volunteer who got in trouble for her inappropriate clothes. The rest of the skit was carried heavily by the Bronx Beat ladies played by Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler, who of course were the source of the comedy in the act.
But then Maya called attention to the obvious… “Who cares if kids are looking at boobs?”. “Boobs feed babies…I turned on CSI the other night, and there’s a dead guy with a worm in his eye. But we can’t look at the tops of boobs?”