Saturday Night Live has had a broad variety of musical guests over the decades, and while the performances mostly go well, sometimes, there’s friction. Some (in)famous appearances have reportedly led to artists being banned: Acts like Sinéad O’Connor, Rage Against The Machine, David Bowie, and a few others have gone down in SNL lore for supposedly earning a seal of disapproval.
That said, per Lorne Michaels (who has been running SNL since the beginning), no musician has ever actually been banned from the show.
In the new Questlove-co-directed documentary Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years Of SNL Music, Michaels explained (as Consequence notes):
“I’ll read it sometimes in the Post: ‘So and so’s banned for life.’ We’ve never banned anyone. We’re way too crass and opportunistic. If something’s hot, we’re going to go for it and have it on.”
O’Connor, of course, generated controversy for tearing a photograph of Pope John Paul II during a 1992 episode. Meanwhile, in 1996, RATM attempted to perform while displaying upside-down American flags, but they were removed before the band’s performance. Elsewhere in the new documentary, Tom Morello reveals some more behind-the-scenes info about the episode, including how the band ended up being locked in their dressing room by the Secret Service.
