Stand-up comedy icon Andrew Dice Clay hosted Saturday Night Live only once—on May 12, 1990—and the news of his being booked for the gig was enough to spark controversy before he even set foot on stage that evening. Not only did word of his scheduled appearance cause one SNL cast member to boycott the show, but it also led to the episode’s original musical guest backing out at the last minute. It all started with Nora Dunn, who’d been with the show since 1985. The season Clay hosted would end up being the last one either of them would be involved with.
The week leading up to Clay’s episode, Dunn announced that she wouldn’t be appearing due to Clay’s “degrading” and “hateful” stand-up material. “I don’t want to be part of providing an arena for him to make himself legitimate because I don’t think he is,” Dunn told the Associated Press at the time. “Although I feel he has a right to express himself, I have a right to strongly state my position.” Series creator Lorne Michaels said he supported Dunn’s decision, but wished that she’d spoken to him about it instead of going public with it.
Two days after Dunn’s announcement, Sinead O’Connor, who was supposed to perform on the May 12 show, also decided against sharing the stage with Clay. In a prepared statement, O’Connor explained that she found it disrespectful to women that the producers of SNL would expect her to be on the same show as a comedian like Clay. According to O’Connor’s publicist, Dunn’s walkout had nothing to do with O’Connor changing her mind about her commitment. O’Connor hadn’t been familiar with Clay’s work and was offended by the tapes she was sent of his act.
Andrew Dice Clay Hosted ‘SNL’ and Caused Chaos Before the Show Aired
Clay’s opening sketch that night addressed the controversy head-on. In a parody of It’s a Wonderful Life, Jon Lovitz is featured as Clay’s guardian devil, who shows Clay what the episode would’ve been like if he had never been born. One thing Lovitz reveals is that Dunn was accidentally crushed by one of O’Connor’s amplifiers in this alternate timeline. A distraught O’Connor never sang again, as Lovitz tells it. “Hey, that’s too bad. She was a cute bald chick, you know?” says Clay in response.
You can check out the sketch in its entirety below.
The post 35 Years Ago, ‘SNL’ Booked a Host So Controversial That Nora Dunn and Sinead O’Connor Refused to Appear appeared first on VICE.
