Leslie Jones recalls confronting ‘SNL’ writers over typecasting her as ‘angry’
Leslie Jones revealed she confronted “Saturday Night Live” writers over being typecast as “angry” and aggressive.
“It was kind of frustrating that they would always make me the girl that was angry and beating up people or in love with a white boy,” the comedian said on the June 12 episode of “The Sam Sanders Show.”
“They just always would make me angry or fighting somebody,” she added.
Jones, who was on the sketch comedy series from 2014 to 2019, said she asked the writers to “stop writing me like that” — but they refused.
“They’re like, ‘This is successful. When you leave here you’ll be able to make…’” she recalled. “No. I don’t wanna be Chevy Chase. I don’t wanna be whoever… I wanna be Leslie. I wanna do everything.”
Jones continued, “I would tell them, ‘Hey, can I be in this sketch?’ ‘Hey, when do I get to play a man?’ They would let them do other stuff, and then they wouldn’t let me play as much as I wanted to play.”
The 58-year-old said she once spoke to creator Lorne Michaels about some of the racial “undertones” happening behind-the-scenes.
“You know, there be some racist stuff be happening up through here,” she stated, before claiming that “misogyny is heavier than the racism” at “SNL.”
Despite her grievances, Jones said she still played ball with the NBC program because she knew that was best for her career.
“I wanted to be on the show,” she said, “And at the time I didn’t think that was what was happening ‘till it kept happening. And then every time I would get a sketch, I was like, ‘OK, who am I beating up this week?’”
Jones also called “SNL” a “machine” that will never change because “It’s been successful” since it premiered in 1975.
“If you wanna be there, go there, because it is a great foundation,” she said as advice to up-and-coming comedians. “It is a great place for you still to find yourself. You can definitely get love going there.”
However, Jones noted comics need to have “a very strong personality” and be “very secure in yourself” if they want to be on the show.
When asked to sum up her experience, Jones called it “bittersweet” because while she “loved being there” and had “fun,” she doesn’t “miss the mental part” of the job.
Page Six has reached out to “SNL” for comment.
Jones joined “SNL” as a writer during Season 39 in 2014, before being promoted to an official cast member later that year.
At the time, Jones was the oldest new recruit in the show’s history at age 47.
She earned two Emmy nominations for her performance before departing the series in 2019.
