12 'Saturday Night Live' Cast Members Who Were Let Go from the Show - and Why

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Shane Gillis

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Gillis wasfired from the showahead of the 2019 season before even appearing on television after a video of him using racial slursresurfaced online.

AnSNLspokesperson said in a statement on behalf of show creatorLorne Michaels, “After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joiningSNL.”

The statement read, “We wantSNLto have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as comedian and his impressive audition forSNL. We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard.”

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Jenny Slate

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The actress and voice behindMarcel the Shelljoined theSNLcast in 2009, but was fired afteraccidentally cursing on air.

She added, “Lorne and I never talked when I was fired at the end of the season; I got the news online. I’ve still never watched the clip of my f—-up. That’d be like watching yourself fall down the aisle at your wedding!”

03of 11Chris Farley & Adam SandlerBei/REX/ShutterstockBoth Farley and Sandler were fired from the late-night sketch show in 1995, which may come as a surprise since they were so dang funny!Sandler toldThe Daily Beastin 2014, “Yes, we were [fired]. Wekind ofquit at the same time as being fired. It was the end of the run for us. The fact that me and him got fired? Who knows. We were on it for a few years, had our run, and everything happens for a reason. We kind of understood because we did our thing. It hurt a lot at the time because we were young and didn’t know where we were going, but it all worked out.“When he returned to host the show in 2019, Sandlersang a songabout being let go from the show. He crooned, “I was fired, I was fired, I was fired, so sad to tell/ Well, I never saw it coming, I got fired fromSNL… I tried to call Lorne Michaels, but he never called me back.”

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Chris Farley & Adam Sandler

Bei/REX/Shutterstock

Both Farley and Sandler were fired from the late-night sketch show in 1995, which may come as a surprise since they were so dang funny!

Sandler toldThe Daily Beastin 2014, “Yes, we were [fired]. Wekind ofquit at the same time as being fired. It was the end of the run for us. The fact that me and him got fired? Who knows. We were on it for a few years, had our run, and everything happens for a reason. We kind of understood because we did our thing. It hurt a lot at the time because we were young and didn’t know where we were going, but it all worked out.”

When he returned to host the show in 2019, Sandlersang a songabout being let go from the show. He crooned, “I was fired, I was fired, I was fired, so sad to tell/ Well, I never saw it coming, I got fired fromSNL… I tried to call Lorne Michaels, but he never called me back.”

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Chris Rock

Andrew H Walker/Emirates Airlines/Shutterstock

Rock was fired from the show in 1993 after expressing interest in another sketch show,In Living Color.

05of 11Taran KillamDimitrios Kambouris/GettyKillam had one year left on his contract with the show when he was unceremoniously let go without explanation in 2016.When asked why he was cut, Killam toldUproxx, “I don’t know fully. I don’t know the other side of it. You sign for seven years, so I had one more year. I had sort of had it in my head I would make this upcoming year my last year, but then heard they weren’t going to pick up my contract.”

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Taran Killam

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Killam had one year left on his contract with the show when he was unceremoniously let go without explanation in 2016.

When asked why he was cut, Killam toldUproxx, “I don’t know fully. I don’t know the other side of it. You sign for seven years, so I had one more year. I had sort of had it in my head I would make this upcoming year my last year, but then heard they weren’t going to pick up my contract.”

06of 11Jay PharoahAllen Berezovsky/FilmMagicKnown for his spot-on impressions of celebs like JAY-Z,Will SmithandBarack Obama, Pharoah was unexpectedly let go along with Killam. He didn’t give an exact reason as to why he wasn’t asked back, butdid say, “You go where you’re appreciated.” The comedian felt like he was put into a box on the show and under-utilized, he added.Pharoah explained, “Ain’t no beef with Lorne … we’re on good graces.”

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Jay Pharoah

Allen Berezovsky/FilmMagic

Known for his spot-on impressions of celebs like JAY-Z,Will SmithandBarack Obama, Pharoah was unexpectedly let go along with Killam. He didn’t give an exact reason as to why he wasn’t asked back, butdid say, “You go where you’re appreciated.” The comedian felt like he was put into a box on the show and under-utilized, he added.

Pharoah explained, “Ain’t no beef with Lorne … we’re on good graces.”

07of 11Sarah SilvermanFrazer Harrison/Getty ImagesSilverman was fired after one season in 1994 via fax (ouch)! The comedian said that her firing was part of a big cast shake-up. She has a good sense of humor about it now, tellingHuffPost Live, “By the way, I wrote not a single funny sketch, so that might have had something to do with it, too …”

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Sarah Silverman

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Silverman was fired after one season in 1994 via fax (ouch)! The comedian said that her firing was part of a big cast shake-up. She has a good sense of humor about it now, tellingHuffPost Live, “By the way, I wrote not a single funny sketch, so that might have had something to do with it, too …”

08of 11Robert Downey Jr.Frazer Harrison/GettyThe A-Lister was hired at just 20 years old for the show’s 11th season, but only lasted one year in the cast. Though it’s nottotallyclear if he was fired, Downey Jr. did admit that he was “ill-suited” for the job.TheIronmanstarsaid of his time onSNL, “I learned so much in that year about what I wasn’t. I was not somebody who was going to come up with a catchphrase. I was not somebody who was going to do impressions. I was somebody who was very ill-suited for rapid-fire sketch comedy. I was like this seems really hard.”

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Robert Downey Jr.

Frazer Harrison/Getty

The A-Lister was hired at just 20 years old for the show’s 11th season, but only lasted one year in the cast. Though it’s nottotallyclear if he was fired, Downey Jr. did admit that he was “ill-suited” for the job.

TheIronmanstarsaid of his time onSNL, “I learned so much in that year about what I wasn’t. I was not somebody who was going to come up with a catchphrase. I was not somebody who was going to do impressions. I was somebody who was very ill-suited for rapid-fire sketch comedy. I was like this seems really hard.”

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Damon Wayans

Wayans was fired in 1986 after making script changes without permission - he took a straight male police officer and made him flamboyantly gay without explanation - after just one season on the show.

Wayans saidthat he made the decision because he “was angry.” He explained, “They didn’t let me do what I wanted to do onSNL, which I came to learn was Lorne Michaels' way of protecting me from looking like I was trying to be the next Eddie Murphy. It was right after Eddie Murphy left the show and they weren’t letting me do things that he would do. So, I went against the script. That was my frustration.”

He doesadmit that it was fairthat he got the boot: “I knew I was going to get fired for it. Lorne did the right thing.”

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Rob Riggle

Riggle only lasted one season on the show, and blames being the only new person in an all-star cast for his firing.

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Michaela Watkins

David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty

Watkins was on the show in 2008, but fired one season later. In a candid interview withEntertainment Weekly, she said, “The only explanation I got from [Michaels] - and he’s not known to say things just to make people feel better - was that he felt deep down that I should have my own show. And I agreed.SNLwas a dream come true for me. It was a fantastic year. I don’t have any regrets.”

source: people.com