Aside from featuring some of the most celebrated comedians of all time, Saturday Night Live has also welcomed a wide variety of musical artists, actors, and television personalities to the country’s foremost stage. Our list includes both special guests and hosts, but all names on our list have ended up on the SNL ‘no-fly’ list. These celebs got banned from SNL and have managed to ensure they’re never asked back.
Kanye West
It’s no wonder, Kanye West ‘Yeezy’ has appeared as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live seven times, always turning in an equally inspired performance as his critically acclaimed and bestselling albums. In one particular episode, SNL producers allowed him a rare third performance segment. Instead of playing a song, West delivered a speech in praise of President Donald Trump while wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.
Even after the SNL 90-minute slot ran out, he didn’t stop blaming mainstream media and dismissing the racism allegations on to Trump. This, without a doubt, led to him being permanently banned from the show. Although it’s not very surprising that Ye is one of the celebs who got banned from SNL after his multiple public outbursts.
Adrien Brody
The Oscar-winning actor got to host a May 2003 episode of Saturday Night Live. In Adrien Brody‘s case, the musical guest was Jamaican singer Sean Paul, and introducing him was one of the host’s duties. In addition to grabbing a dreadlock wig, Brody spoke in an affected Jamaican patois for nearly a minute before throwing it back to Paul.
Brody isn’t allowed back on SNL now, but it has nothing to do with his reggae-inspired antics. His biggest mistake was improvising and wasting time on the intricately planned live television series.
Martin Lawrence
Martin Lawrence is one of the most popular stand-up comedians of the ’90s. He was invited to host Saturday Night Live in February 1994 and as is customary, began his opening monologue.
Lawrence opened the show by discussing Lorena Bobbitt’s story of cutting off her husband’s penis. He then slid into a bizarre monologue about a woman’s private parts and women’s hygiene. This was after making several jokes that already pushed SNL’s boundaries. This episode resulted in over 200 complaints. According to reports, several sponsors of the show protested, leading to Martin Lawrence being permanently banned from SNL.
Rage Against The Machine
Both loyal fans of Rage Against The Machine and the mainstream media raised eyebrows when RATM appeared on the mainstream TV show on April 13th, 1996. It was always true that SNL had been at the cutting edge of both comedy and music. But it strongly preferred that politics be kept out of any musical performances. It didn’t help that the show’s guest host on that particular night was billionaire and then-Presidential candidate Steve Forbes. This made the band’s fury all the more understandable.
The band made a political statement in a subtle way by hanging American flags upside down from their amplifiers. It may have been a little tame by the band’s standards but it still infuriated the patriotic producers. Stagehands were brought in to remove the flags and the band was never invited again.
