Random People Who Have Been Banned from SNL (17 items)

(#5) Sinéad O'Connor
- Dec. at 56 (1966-2023)
After performing the Bob Marley song "War," singer Sinéad O'Connor created one of the most notorious "SNL" moments of all time. The bald beauty started her own protest against the Catholic Church by changing lyrics in the song to talk about child abuse and tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II at the end of the song. As she told the solemn crowd to "fight the real enemy," the camera panned away.
Sinéad O'Connor was never invited back after the infamous incident, which was edited out of repeats of the show.
(#17) Cypress Hill

As any cast member or guest will tell you, "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels has a zero tolerance policy for the use of alcohol and drugs on set. Apparently this was not told to rap group Cypress Hill before their October 2, 1993 musical appearance. Either that or DJ Muggs didn't care when he lit up a joint during their song "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That."
Cypress Hill did go out like that, and never returned to the "Saturday Night Live" stage.
(#3) Andy Kaufman
- Dec. at 35 (1949-1984)
A "SNL" semi-regular at the time, notable comedian Andy Kaufman was banned from the show on November 20, 1982, not by the producers, but by the fans. NBC received numerous complaints about the quirky funny-man, leading the network to allow fans to vote via a 1-900 number if Kaufman should be allowed to remain on the show or be banned for life.
Fans spoke and Kaufman never returned to the "Saturday Night Live" again.
(#10) Adrien Brody
- 50
After scrapping "good" ideas for sketches all week in writer's meetings, actor Adrien Brody went off-script when he hosted "Saturday Night Live" on May 10, 2003. The Oscar winner donned dreadlocks and a pretty bad accent when introducing Jamaican performer Sean Paul, drawing dirty looks and a permanent ban from show producer Lorne Michaels.
(#7) Louise Lasser
- 84
As the first person ever banned from Saturday Night Live, actress Louise Lasser was described as incoherent during her hosting appearance in the first season of the show on July 24, 1976. As if showing up to host completely lit wasn't bad enough, according to production assistant Neil Levy, Lasser was also found crawling through the "SNL" offices looking for drugs.
(#16) Fear

When SNL cast member John Belushi started following the notorious punk rocker's from Fear, he got the band booked as the show's musical guest on Halloween 1981. The performance turned into anarchy when Belushi, then–Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye, Harley Flanagan, and John Joseph stormed the stage during the song, "Let’s Have a War."

Given that much of the audience was made up of punk-rockers, the mosh pit was hardly surprising. It did, however, frighten some of the other viewers. Fear's frontman, Lee Ving, recalled for Rolling Stone:

The real audience at Saturday Night Live was scared... The camera people were trying to protect their cameras. Dick Ebersol, who was stage manager, got hit in the chest with a pumpkin.

As we finish "Let’s Have a War," one of the kids grabs the microphone, stuck it in his mouth and screamed, "F*ck New York!" And the main NBC guy was at home watching with his wife and freaked out.

Fear was subsequently banned from the studio and the footage was censored for a long time. Though it has since aired, the infamous day is not easily forgotten at NBC.