SNL's F-Bomb Coulda Been Staged

The circumstances leading to Jenny Slate's viral video moment are awfully suspicious
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 29, 2009 8:34 AM CDT

With the Jenny-Slate-says-f---ing-on-live-TV clip going viral and making Saturday Night Live nearly relevant again, E! has to wonder—was it staged? It unrolls its best guess at what happened:

  • Sarah Palin bows out of politics, which means no more Tina Fey on SNL.
  • Lorne Michaels realizes he'll have to wait until next season to mock Sarah Palin’s 2012 presidential bid; enter desperation.

  • Michaels decides the naked-Megan-Fox jokes just aren’t enough to make the premiere buzzworthy; enter newbie Slate.
  • Conveniently enough, Slate drops the F-bomb at around 12:43am—outside FCC jurisdiction.
  • Cue viral video, Parents Television Council complaint, and Michaels’ apologetic quotes.
  • Then again, Michaels usually takes FCC guidelines seriously—so it could have been the mistake everyone says it was.
(More Saturday Night Live stories.)

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