Saturday Night Live has had to hit the bleep button on hosts and even cast members before, but the most recent episode took it one step further when the entire audience was censored for yelling out a swear word.
It happened during the Weekend Update segment when Ego Nwodim came out to pitch herself to host the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after the group recently canceled an appearance planned for comedian Amber Ruffin.
“They should let me do the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” Nwodim argued, promising that she would joke about the dinner itself, not politics. She then got up from behind the Update desk to demonstrate her material, hilariously keeping her purse on her arm as she began her roast.
“So for dinner, I see y’all got a choice of beef, fish, or chicken. There’s also a vegetarian option. It’s called walking your gay ass to Sweetgreens [sic] across the street,” she began, changing up her usual tone to take on a hacky comic persona.
Suddenly, the “Lisa From Temecula” star’s dinner roast transformed into an audience call-and-response, as the comedian began complaining about her personal life. “This Miss Eggie, and Miss Eggie don’t what?” she asked, pointing her microphone to the SNL crowd, who yelled out, “Play!”
The cast member seemed surprised they were so quick to catch on. “How y’all know? Play,” she said, laughing.
With the Studio 8H spectators in the palm of her hand, Nwodim continued — and that’s when things took a boisterous turn.
“Cory Booker out here with his filibuster. Shooot. I had my fill of busters. ‘Cause these men ain’t what?” she asked, turning the mic on the live audience, who could be heard starting to respond, “Shi…” just as the sound suddenly dropped from the NBC broadcast, though Peacock viewers reported the curse word going uncensored on the streamer.
“We fittin’ to get fined for that,” she replied, as Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che collapsed in laughter behind her.
“Worth a damn, sucker,” she said, revealing what her intended punchline had been. “Y’all gonna have to pay for that. Lorne gonna be mad at y’all,” she warned of show boss Lorne Michaels.
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Versions uploaded to the show’s social platforms later dropped the audio from the audience’s reply entirely. Check it out below on YouTube, beginning at the three-minute mark.
This weekend’s episode was hosted by Jack Black, with musical guests Elton John and Brandi Carlile.
Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.
