The Golden Globes’ Winner for Best Actor Has A Lifetime Ban From ‘Saturday Night Live’

Based on his Best Actor win for The Brutalist at last night’s Golden Globe Awards, Adrien Brody might be on his way to a second Oscar. But no matter how many prestigious trophies he piles up on the mantle, it’s unlikely that he’ll ever win the forgiveness of SNL producer Lorne Michaels, who allegedly put the actor on the show’s unofficial banned list back in 2003.

Brody’s introduction of musical guest Sean Paul will go down in SNL history for his just-this-side-of-Black-face performance, complete with stereotypical Jamaican accent and dreadlocked wig. The borderline character was infuriating enough, but according to SNL legend, what really irked Michaels was that Brody had gone off-script. Racism is one thing but surprising Michaels is the ultimate sin. 

Another “banned” guest, Sinead O’Connor, got on the wrong side of Michaels — but not for tearing up a picture of the Pope. Instead, “it was dishonest because she didn’t tell us she was going to do it,” he told Spin.

“Every line, every bit of dialogue has a camera cut attached to it,” Michaels once told Vulture. “If you’re not where you’re supposed to be, then they’re going to miss the shot.”

Anyway, back to Brody. According to Saturday Night Live FAQ, the first-time host was trouble all week long. Tina Fey told Howard Stern that Brody pitched his own unfunny sketch ideas and wasn’t happy when Michaels and the show’s writers ignored them. Brody knew his jokes weren’t landing. “They were all literally agape from me pitching,” he told Vulture. 

Could that have been the reason he decided to do his unplanned rasta bit?

But Brody, revisiting the incident during his recent Brutalist press tour, says the introduction was planned all along. Of course Saturday Night Live knew about the bit in advance. Otherwise, why would the costume department have given him the dreadlocks wig? Maybe the problem was Brody riffing and extending the impression. “I think Lorne wasn’t happy with me embellishing a bit, but they allowed me to,” he said. “I thought that was a safe space to do that, weirdly.”

In fact, Brody wants to host again. “I had a great time,” he told Huffington Post in 2012. 

But is he banned from the show? Brody admits he’s heard the rumors but neither Michaels nor anyone at SNL has told him he’s out for good, at least not officially. 

Then again, as he told Vulture, “I also have never been invited back on, so I don’t know what to tell you.”