Damon Wayans on Why He “Purposefully” Got Himself Fired From ‘SNL’

Damon Wayans is opening up about why he “purposefully” got himself fired from Saturday Night Live during his brief time on the show in the ‘80s. Appearing on the Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Wayans recalled receiving advice from Eddie Murphy before joining the cast of season 11. Murphy told him to “write your own sketches,” warning that otherwise, he would end up playing stereotypical roles he wouldn’t like.

Wayans quickly ran into trouble with the show’s writers, who didn’t seem to understand his ideas. He pitched a sketch called “The Gifted Rapper,” where he played a gift wrapper who could rhyme, but head writer Al Franken didn’t get the concept. “Fifty million other people do,” Wayans shot back.

As Murphy had predicted, Wayans found himself being asked to portray cliched characters, leading him to refuse roles he felt were demeaning. When one of his sketches was replaced by another writer’s, Wayans snapped. In a live sketch, he deliberately altered his voice to sound like an effeminate gay man, shocking the cast and writers. “I purposely did that because I wanted [Lorne Michaels] to fire me,” Wayans admitted. His actions worked, Michaels fired him right after.