Samuel L. Jackson Reveals Who Got Him Banned From ‘Saturday Night Live’

Samuel L. Jackson has not appeared on Saturday Night Live in a decade, since he cursed live on air once. During a stop on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Friday, the living legend jokingly put all the blame for the snafu on Kenan Thompson’s shoulders. After appearing on Ellen, Jackson received an honorary Oscar for his career.

Jackson has only appeared on SNL twice. In January 1998, he stopped by to host. Over 14 years later, he made a cameo appearance in the December 2012 episode, playing himself in a “What Up With That?” sketch. Jackson accidentally said the f-word on live television. “That cost money,” Thompson, who hosts the sketch as Diondre Cole, said in response. “Bulls—,” Jackson said.

“Kenan got me banned from Saturday Night Live,” Jackson told Ellen guest host Leslie Jones, reports Entertainment Tonight. “He didn’t cut me off soon enough and I said the forbidden word on television. He was supposed to cut me off!”

Although Jones was not a member of the SNL cast in 2012 yet, she told Jackson she warned Thompson to cut Jackson off if he was about to swear. “He was supposed to, out there,” Jones said. “That’s what I told him, I was like, ‘If Sam was about to curse, you’re supposed to cut him off. You know, that’s how we do it.’” Jones promised she would “scold” Thompson the next time she sees him because “don’t nobody do Samuel like that.”

On Friday night, Jackson finally received an Oscar during the Governors Awards, with his friend Denzel Washington presenting the honorary award. Jackson has been making movies and television shows for 50 years, but his career really took off in the 1990s. His newest project is the title role in Apple TV+’s The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, in which he plays a 93-year-old dementia patient who investigates his nephew’s death. It is based on the novel by Walter Mosley.

In a recent ET interview, Jackson said the honorary award was an “acknowledgment” of his work in front of the screen and his tireless work for civil rights and other issues close to his heart. Washington even listed all of the organizations Jackson supports.

Jackson is “proud” of the “popcorn movies” he’s made because they are just like the ones he saw growing up, he told ET. ” I’ve made a lot of people clap, a lot of people cheer and I’ve made a lot of people money and put some a-es in those seats,” he added. “I hope my legacy is that I did a lot of movies that people enjoy and that I brought joy to a lot of homes and people are not mad when they see a Sam Jackson movie.”