The Biggest SNL Controversies in the Show’s 47 Year Run

For more than 40 years, the hit TV show “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) has been a beloved American institution. Thanks to this iconic series, we have been given tons of pop culture moments and a huge roster of legendary stars.

The entertainer and comedian Andy Kaufman was a regular on the early seasons of SNL, and he was actually one of the most frequent guests on the show. However, he started becoming more and more controversial because his stage act made him an incredibly divisive figure by 1982.

Steven Seagal hosted SNL on April 20, 1991, and apparently, his performance had tons of mistakes and was “listless.” In fact, some people speculated that he might just quit right in the middle of the episode.

One of the first shocking comedians was Andrew Dice Clay, who was notorious for making disrespectful jokes about women. However, before he ever went onto the SNL stage, his performance was already controversial. Around the country, women’s groups started to protest and even the staff at SNL were upset.

It seems that dropping the F-bomb accidentally (or on purpose) has been a huge problem on Saturday Night Live. Jenny Slate is an author, actress, and comedian who got her start in TV stand-up roles. Slate had a good career in TV because of her distinctive voice.

Jessica Simpson’s less famous sister, Ashlee Simpson, started out with a promising career in the music industry. However, she bungled it badly when she performed on SNL. It was 2004 when Simpson appeared on the show when the tape of her popular “Pieces of Me” song began to play over her second song’s intro.

Because of Andrew Dice Clay’s SNL appearance, other entertainers were also blacklisted, including Nora Dunn. Because she boycotted his appearance on the show, she was let out of a subsequent episode and eventually fired.

Although Claudine Longet never even appeared on Saturday Night Live, something she allegedly did created a huge SNL controversy. Allegedly, the French actress and pop star shot and killed a skier named Vladimir “Spider” Sabich in 1976.

It’s not often that five people manage to offend everyone all at once, but that’s exactly what happened when these five men performed in a sketch on Saturday Night Live. In the sketch, these guys were at a nude beach, where they ended up saying the word “penis” in the sketch more than 40 times.

When Katy Perry appeared on Saturday Night Live, she played the role of a library volunteer for children. However, her clothing would have been wildly inappropriate if she were really a children’s librarian, and the skit ended up being quite controversial.

Robert Blake was an American actor (now retired) who made himself famous with hits such as “In Cold Blood” and the TV series “Baretta.” However, Blake may be most famous for being on trial for the murder of his wife, Bonnie Bakley.

Adrien Brody is an American producer and actor. He has appeared in films such as “The Pianist” by Roman Polanski, and he received an Oscar for Best Actor for that performance. He also appeared in films that include “Midnight in Paris,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” and “The Thin Red Line.”

Perhaps one of the most controversial moves was that Saturday Night Live has unofficially banned former Pres. Donald Trump. During his 2016 presidential primary campaign, Trump hosted the show and many SNL staff members were unhappy about it.

Fred Armisen is an American comedian and actor who has acted in comedy films and even won a Grammy nomination for a comedy album. Armisen’s sketches were political comedy on SNL. In his career at SNL, Armisen was the third-longest cast member with tenure, behind only Darrell Hammond and Seth Meyers.

The punk rock band Fear hails out of Los Angeles, California. The group was formed in 1977 and they helped define the style and sound of hardcore punk in California. However, they wanted to do something memorable on SNL and it ended up getting them banned.

In 1979, the band called The Replacements started out in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They were on their way to breaking into mainstream music when they got a lucky break that included a booking on SNL in 1986.

The most controversial and well-known incident in the history of SNL occurred on October 3, 1992, when singer Sinéad O’Connor performed the Bob Marley song “War.” When she finished singing, O’Connor produced a photo of the Pope at the time, Pope John Paul II.

It seems like Kanye West is always misunderstood, and his behavior doesn’t help with that. When he was on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest, it was controversial because he chose to wear a “Make America Great Again” hat to imply that he supported Donald Trump.

We’ll put Pete Davidson right under Kanye West since Davidson is famously dating Kanye’s now-ex-wife Kim Kardashian. There have been plenty of Pete Davidson controversies, but the most notable is the one that happened in 2018 when mocked Congressman Dan Crenshaw, who lost one of his eyes in Iraq.

Kate McKinnon is a beloved SNL alum, and one of her most controversial skits involved Gal Gadot, who played a character who resembled Wonder Woman. The two women were lost at sea on an urgent journey.

One of the most famous Saturday Night Live original cast members of all time is Chevy Chase, who went on to have a huge career in movies. In 1975, Chase did a sketch with comedian Richard Pryor in which the pair played a type of word association game about the other.

Larry David was a star after he created the hit TV show “Seinfield” with Jerry Seinfield. He later became famous for creating and staring in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” where he plays a fictionalized Larry David. He has won awards that include two Emmy Awards.

One of the most popular SNL sketches of all time was a sketch performed by comedian Chris Farley and actor/dancer Patrick Swayze. In the sketch, the two are competing for a job dancing at the male strip club Chippendale’s. The controversy came into play because it seemed to negatively impact Chris Farley’s mental health.

American actor and comedian Martin Lawrence is known for being controversial and outspoken. The actor has appeared in movies such as “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate,” “House Party,” ” Big Momm’s House,” and the “Bad Boys” series.

Milton Berle was a legend for a long time before he ever graced the stage at Saturday Night Live. Berle’s career in Hollywood lasted more than 80 years, and he got his start in silent films as a child actor. Uncle Miltie was naughty at SNL, though.

One of the most successful movie stars in the last several decades, Adam Sandler got his start on SNL and was one of the most popular stars of the show in the mid-1990s. Nevertheless, he was fired from SNL in 1995 by Lorne Michaels.

In the 1990s, actor Alec Baldwin hosted SNL several times, and in one sketch, Baldwin’s character was a Boy Scout Leader (scoutmaster) who made inappropriate sexual advances to a character called Canteen Boy.

Rage Against the Machine is an American rock and roll band out of Los Angeles, California. The band was formed in 1991 and has sold more than 16 million records. Most of their songs express political views that are revolutionary, and a part of their stage act includes an upside-down or even burning American flag.

Frank Zappa was a legendary singer, musician, bandleader, songwriter, and composer. However, Zappa’s cultural influence extended far beyond music. He was also great at creating satire to make fun of American culture.

It’s hard to believe that anyone would get fired these days over dropping the F-bomb on live TV, but that’s exactly what happened to SNL cast member Charles Rocket in 1981. Rocket was performing a parody of the hit TV show “Dallas” with a star of the show, Charlene Tilton.

An NFL quarterback named Tim Tebow was well-known for being a devout Christian who knelt and prayed often during the football games he played for the Denver Broncos. Tebow’s religion was mocked by many comedians, and an SNL sketch in 2011 received a lot of attention.

Before he was the host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Fallon was a Saturday Night Live cast member. He came on board in 1998, but it was a sketch in 2000 that created controversy. In the sketch, Fallon portrayed Chris Rock and impersonated him while wearing blackface, which has long been considered to be completely unacceptable.

Saturday Night Live aired in 2015 a pre-recorded sketch that starred Dakota Johnson and Taran Killam. In the sketch, the pair are father and daughter, and it shows Killam dropping his “daughter” off at the airport in a way that’s similar to many recruitment commercials that are put out by the U.S. Military.

Louis C.K. is a famous comedian who started his career writing for comedians in the 1990s. He has written for the likes of Dana Carvey, Conan O’Brien, Christ Rock, and David Letterman. In 2015, he was accused of sexual misconduct by several women and suffered serious repercussions as a result.

Sam Kinison was an American actor and stand-up comedian who also happened to be a former preacher in the Pentecostal church. He got his start in comedy performing for free, but he later became friends with the likes of Jim Carrey and Robin Williams.

Cypress Hill is a hip-hop group out of California and they were banned from SNL in 1993. In the performance, group member DJ Muggs smoked a joint of marijuana on the SNL stage. Another group member, Sen Dog, says that he likes that the group is banned from the SNL stage.

Charles Grodin was a comedian, actor, TV talk show host, and actor. He made a name for himself in hits such as “Heaven Can Wait,” “The Heartbreak Kid,” and “Catch-22.” The actor was a popular guest on late-night TV shows with legends such as David Letterman and Johnny Carson.

When famed golfer Tiger Woods started having marital problems in 2009, SNL cast member Kenan Thompson portrayed Woods and pretended that the golfer was being interviewed by CNN. In the interview, Tiger keeps leaving the screen and then returning with more bruises.

Shane Gillis is a famous American YouTuber, stand-up comedian, podcaster, and radio personality. He appears frequently on Comedy Central and several different podcasts that are based on comedy.

System of a Down is a band from Glendale, California. The group is made up of Armenian Americans, and they play heavy metal music. Although they released five successful albums and have won a Grammy, their performance on Saturday Night Live earned them disapproval from network executives.

The English songwriter and singer Elvis Costello has won a lot of awards in his career, and Rolling Stone cites him as one of the top 100 greatest artists who has ever lived. However, none of this made him a winner with Saturday Nigh Live staff.