‘Saturday Night Live‘ has been on air for nearly five decades and has been a source of several hilarious moments. But it is not without a plethora of controversies. The show runs on a tight schedule with protocols stated by the showrunner and producer Lorne Michaels.
But on a few occasions, the celebrity guests got a bit too far with their personal views, leading them to get canceled or even banned from the show itself. Here are five such celebrities who got banned from SNL and what they did for that to happen.
1. Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody hosted the show back in 2003 with Sean Paul as the guest. A little improvisation isn’t harmful but Brody went a little ahead and improvised the Jamaican accent. He also wore a dreadlock wig for the skit.
The showrunner Lorne Michaels was unhappy with the performance, especially because of the improvisation with strongly racist undertones. It was considered offensive and completely unplanned, leading to a ban on Brody’s appearance on the show.
2. Kanye West (Ye)
Kanye West (Ye) has been the musical guest on SNL seven times, a record in the show’s history. But even after being welcomed back so many times, his appearance in 2018 allegedly cost him heavily.
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After being given a rare opportunity to sing three songs in a single episode, West used his third slot to show his support for Donald Trump and speak about politics. Given his highly controversial views on politics, his act was considered contempt, leading to his ban.
3. Martin Lawrence
In 1994, Martin Lawrence hosted the SNL and during his opening monologue, he did a stand-up about feminine hygiene, which was done with poor execution and was cut from the episode.
After this set, Martin was banned from the show, but it didn’t last long as he addressed it in a 2020 interview with ‘The Breakfast Club‘. “They banned me from NBC at the time for a minute. But then they realized the way it went down wasn’t what they thought, and then they sent me an apology letter,” he said.
4. Steven Seagal
During his 1991 appearance on the show including David Spade, Dana Carvey, and former writer Bob Odenkirk, it was revealed that he was quite difficult to work with. Many called him the “worst host“.
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Steven made such a reputation for himself that it was even brought up during Nicolas Cage’s monologue on SNL a year later. Cage joked about this and said he was the “biggest jerk who’s ever been on the show” and Lorne Michaels himself responded, “No, no. That would be Steven Seagal.”
5. Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill caused a lot of controversies when band member DJ Muggs smoked a joint on the SNL stage during his group performance in 1993. “Yo, New York City! They said I couldn’t light my joint! But we ain’t goin’ out like that,” he said before lighting it up on the stage in front of live audience. The group was immediately banned from SNL thereafter.
Group member Sen Dog later opened up about the same during an interview. “I remember Saturday Night Live gave us a green room and said, ‘Do whatever you want in here, just don’t light up out of here’. Muggs felt like he needed to make a statement with his performance. It wasn’t just the Saturday Night Live people saying he couldn’t smoke up on air. It was everyone: our record label, our management, our friends. I felt like, to me, Muggs wanted to make that statement,” he said while speaking to The Village Voice.
