‘Saturday Night Live’ Controversies Through the Years: From Ashlee Simpson’s Lip-Sync Disaster to Kanye West’s Rant

Credit: YouTube

‘Saturday Night Live’ Controversies Through the Years: From Ashlee Simpson’s Lip-Sync Disaster to Kanye West’s Rant

With live TV, unexpected twists are bound to happen! Saturday Night Live has weathered more than one scandal in its decades-long run, thanks to its format and its entire premise as a sketch comedy show. The NBC series premiered in October 1975 and has become a central source for those who hope to get a laugh out of current events. However, Saturday Night Live has also found itself as the butt of the joke throughout the years due to musical guest snafus, headline-making host choices and more. Ashlee Simpson, for one, made her mark in October 2004 when she flubbed her appearance as musical guest. While on stage for her second song of the night, “Autobiography,” a vocal track for “Pieces of Me,” which she had already performed, began playing. She walked off the stage after dancing briefly. Viewers were outraged that she planned to lip-sync. “It’s definitely not difficult to talk about. … That was a very long time ago,” Simpson told E! News in August 2018 when asked about the infamous incident. “It’s something that happened to me, and things in life happen to you and they make you stronger and they make you a better performer, a better person. I think things like that build your character and your strength and it’s how you handle them.” [jwplayer GyPf91Gy-l3ahXupL] The moment, while awkward, did not ruin the Ashlee Simpson Show alum’s chances of being invited back. She returned as a musical guest the following year. The same cannot be said for other stars who sparked backlash on the show. Martin Lawrence is among those who have been banned from appearing after delivering a highly controversial monologue when he hosted in February 1994. “I don’t give a damn,” the comedian said during a 2020 appearance on The Breakfast Club. “I’m not banned from SNL. 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.” Scroll through the gallery below to revisit the biggest Saturday Night Live controversies of all time.

Credit: YouTube

‘Saturday Night Live’ Controversies Through the Years: From Ashlee Simpson’s Lip-Sync Disaster to Kanye West’s Rant

With live TV, unexpected twists are bound to happen! Saturday Night Live has weathered more than one scandal in its decades-long run, thanks to its format and its entire premise as a sketch comedy show. The NBC series premiered in October 1975 and has become a central source for those who hope to get a laugh out of current events. However, Saturday Night Live has also found itself as the butt of the joke throughout the years due to musical guest snafus, headline-making host choices and more. Ashlee Simpson, for one, made her mark in October 2004 when she flubbed her appearance as musical guest. While on stage for her second song of the night, “Autobiography,” a vocal track for “Pieces of Me,” which she had already performed, began playing. She walked off the stage after dancing briefly. Viewers were outraged that she planned to lip-sync. “It’s definitely not difficult to talk about. … That was a very long time ago,” Simpson told E! News in August 2018 when asked about the infamous incident. “It’s something that happened to me, and things in life happen to you and they make you stronger and they make you a better performer, a better person. I think things like that build your character and your strength and it’s how you handle them.” [jwplayer GyPf91Gy-l3ahXupL] The moment, while awkward, did not ruin the Ashlee Simpson Show alum’s chances of being invited back. She returned as a musical guest the following year. The same cannot be said for other stars who sparked backlash on the show. Martin Lawrence is among those who have been banned from appearing after delivering a highly controversial monologue when he hosted in February 1994. “I don’t give a damn,” the comedian said during a 2020 appearance on The Breakfast Club. “I’m not banned from SNL. 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.” Scroll through the gallery below to revisit the biggest Saturday Night Live controversies of all time.

Credit: YouTube

Fear Trashes the Set

The band appeared as the musical guest during an October 1981 episode and featured slam dancers in their performance. The second song of the night carried into multiple offensive tracks, forcing the show to cut to commercial as Fear continued to play. The dancers damaged property in what some compared to a riot. The group was ultimately banned from ever being on the show again.

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The Replacements Get Drunk

The band stirred up trouble in January 1986 when they performed drunk during their stint as musical guest. They also wore each other’s clothes during one of their songs, and guitarist Paul Westerberg accidentally said “f—k” on the air. “Rock-and-roll doesn’t always make for great television,” he explained in Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements. “But we were trying to do whatever possible to make sure that was a memorable evening.”

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Andrew Dice Clay Causes a Boycott

Cast member Nora Dunn refused to appear on the May 1990 episode Clay hosted due to his allegedly misogynistic jokes. Viewers joined in her outrage, and Sinéad O’Connor boycotted after initially agreeing to be the musical guest. 

“As writers, we went into work knowing that Dice wasn’t going to do whatever he wanted, he was going to do what we wrote for him. Simple as that,” writer Christine Zander told Vulture in September 2015. “To think that having him host would allow him to do his offensive stage character on the show was absurd.”

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Sinéad O’Connor Tears Up a Picture of the Pope

The singer courted controversy all her own in October 1992 when she unexpectedly ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II and declared, “Fight the real enemy!” Her efforts to shed light on sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church led to backlash from viewers. The religious leader acknowledged the abuse in 2001 and apologized to his followers. 

“It’s very understandable that the American people did not know what I was going on about,” O’Connor told Salon in 2002. “But outside of America, people did really know and it was quite supported and I think very well understood.”

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Alec Baldwin and Adam Sandler Clarify ‘Canteen Boy’

The frequent host and the then-cast member starred in a February 1994 sketch that showed Baldwin’s scoutmaster character making advances toward Sandler’s boy scout alter-ego. Fans and the Boy Scouts of America complained about the depiction, causing the show to add a disclaimer that the Uncut Gems star’s character was supposed to be 27 years old.

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Martin Lawrence Gets Banned

The comedian made waves in February 1994 while hosting for a monologue that featured mentions about feminine hygiene and genitalia. Although Lawrence disputed in 2020 that he was banned from the show after the incident, he has never appeared in any capacity since.

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Rage Against the Machine Is Ordered to Leave

The band hung two upside-down American flags from their amps during their April 1996 stint as musical guest. The move was meant to send a signal to the host, billionaire Steve Forbes who was then running for president, that they did not support his “flat tax,” according to guitarist Tom Morello. As a result of the stunt, NBC officials ordered the group to leave the building before they finished their performance.

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Adrien Brody Does an Unapproved Impression

The actor, who hosted in May 2003, got banned after he introduced musical guest Sean Paul in a Jamaican accent. He also wore fake dreadlocks during the unsanctioned moment.

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Ashlee Simpson Lip-Syncs

The singer returned to the stage for her second performance during her October 2004 turn as musical guest. However, the vocals for her first song of the night played, indicating that she planned to lip-sync. Simpson danced around a bit before leaving the stage and later claimed that her doctor suggested that she not sing due to complications from acid reflux.

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Kanye West Goes on an Impromptu Rant

The rapper’s third performance was cut off when he appeared as musical guest in September 2018 since the episode was already supposed to be over. West then launched into a speech about Donald Trump and the Grammy winner’s plans to run for president. Cast member Pete Davidson later called the rant “one of the worst, most awkward things I’ve ever seen here” during a “Weekend Update” segment.

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Pete Davidson Jokes About Dan Crenshaw

The comedian has encountered plenty of controversy in his own right. He made a joke about politician Dan Crenshaw’s eye patch on “Weekend Update” in November 2018 but apologized to the congressman the following week. Davidson retracted his mea culpa in his 2020 Netflix special, Pete Davidson: Alive From New York, alleging that he “got forced to apologize” because of the backlash and “didn’t think [he] did anything wrong.”

Credit: Courtesy of Shane Gillis/Instagram

Shane Gillis Is Immediately Fired

The comedian was set to join the cast for season 45, but immediately after his hiring was announced in September 2019, recordings resurfaced of him using racist and homophobic rhetoric. Gillis was fired days later, with a spokesperson for the show claiming they “were not aware of his prior remarks.” 

“I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries. I sometimes miss. If you go through my 10 years of comedy, most of it bad, you’re going to find a lot of bad misses,” Gillis tweeted amid the scandal. “I’m happy to apologize to anyone who’s actually offended by anything I’ve said. My intention is never to hurt anyone but I am trying to be the best comedian I can be and sometimes that requires risks.”

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Morgan Wallen Gets Uninvited

The country singer was set to be the musical guest for an October 2020 episode. However, Saturday Night Live axed his performance after he was seen partying with a group of people without masks during the coronavirus pandemic. “I respect the show’s decision because I know I put them in jeopardy, and I take ownership for this,” Wallen said in an apology shared via Instagram. Jack White ultimately replaced him as musical guest.