Kenan Thompson Insists He Hasn’t Had Samuel L. Jackson Banned From “SNL”

In 2012, Jackson dropped the f-word twice in a sketch and recently joked that Thompson has him axed from the hit series.
A decade-old Saturday Night Livesketch involving Samuel L. Jackson and Kenan Thompson has been revisited this week, and the SNL star is laying some rumors to rest. Back in March, Jackson was a guest on Ellen, and while there, he spoke with the show’s guest host, SNL icon Leslie Jones, about dropping the f-bomb on live television during a scene. Jackson would go on to tease Jones by saying that he’s been banned from the longstanding hit sketch series because of her and Kenan Thompson.

The 2012 story was once again a hot topic of conversation during Thompson’s appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Thompson has worked with Jackson in the past outside of SNL and insisted that he doesn’t have enough pull to keep anyone off the show.

He also stated that Jackson is welcome back to SNL “anytime” and detailed their f-bomb story from his perspective. Jackson was there doing a cameo as himself for the “what Up With That?” sketch and their cue card had the letter “F” on it but not the word.

“He dropped the F-bomb on the show, but he says I was supposed to cut him off before that,” said Thompson. “We kinda expect the f-word out of Sam Jackson, so no harm done. Then he doubled down and said it again, and I was like, ‘Yo, my man, we got to pay for those.’” The actor added, “He’s been mad at me for that, so my bad, bro. I didn’t think he was gonna do it like that. Come on in whenever you want. It’s Sam Jackson — who doesn’t want Sam Jackson on the show?”