Imagine having wealth, job security and complaining about it all.
Funnywoman Leslie Jones gets candid about her Saturday Night Live stint in her new memoir, Leslie F*cking Jones, revealing just how frustrated she felt with the roles she was always asked to play.
WATCH: Why American Racism is Manufactured
In 2014, Jones joined the cast of SNL, and with her energetic personality, she quickly stood out as a fan favorite performer. Because of her acclaim, she was nominated for an Emmy in both 2017 and 2018 for her work on the show. However, Jones left the sketch comedy series in 2019, and she has since stated in interviews that she doesn’t miss her time on the show. While speaking with NPR to promote her memoir, Jones addressed how she felt pigeonholed on the show by only being allowed to play one kind of character and nothing more.
“SNL, they take that one [trope] and they wring it,” Jones explained. “They wring it because that’s the machine. So whatever it is that I’m giving that they’re so happy about, they feel like it’s got to be that all the time or something like that. So it was like a caricature of myself… Either I’m trying to love on the white boys or beat up on the white boys, or I’m doing something loud.”
Listen to “From Cam Model to Controversial Ranting Queen!” on Spreaker.
The Ghostbusters: Answer the Call star also pointed out how this kind of thing isn’t exclusive to herself. She shared how she spoke with another unnamed SNL cast member who’s also since retired, and this person reminded her how this often happens to other comedians who’ve been a part of the program. That’s when it clicked for Jones that SNL is basically a “machine that has to work” led by the “puppet master,” executive producer Lorne Michaels.
“I was talking to another cast member that retired and they said, ‘But in fairness, that’s how they do all of them. Not just the Black ones,” Jones recalled. “I look back and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s right, Taran Killam!’ Taran wanted to do so much other stuff, but they would only have Taran in those very masculine [roles] and singing and stuff and I said, ‘Oh! This is a machine.'”
CLICK HERE: Watch The Latest Rants of Izzo Show!
“I was talking to another cast member that retired and they said, ‘But in fairness, that’s how they do all of them. Not just the Black ones,” Jones recalled. “I look back and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s right, Taran Killam!’ Taran wanted to do so much other stuff, but they would only have Taran in those very masculine [roles] and singing and stuff and I said, ‘Oh! This is a machine.'”
