the sketch that led to his being let go from the high-profile variety show.
for one year, between 1985 and 1986, and has shared his experiences in the new Peacock docuseries
”.
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“Eddie told me something I never forgot, he said, ‘You should write your own material. If not, they’ll probably have you doing some roles that involve stereotypical portrayals of black people, and I know that wouldn’t be to your liking,’ Wayans explained.”
However, Wayans maintains that all of his concepts were rejected and he ended up playing typical roles in the end. “I’m like, ‘No way,’ I told them, ‘My mom’s going to be watching this show, I won’t do this,'” he recalls objecting.
In Canada, the context was that Wayans had been cast as a police officer, and he had had a notebook in which he had jotted down details about his character as planned.
I just lost it, and I wasn’t bothered. I intentionally behaved that way, because I wanted Michaels to let me go.
SNL creator and producer, Lorne Michaels, acknowledges that dismissing Wayans was “really, really tough, but it had to be done”.
Wayns was invited back for the season finale to perform a stand-up comedy routine and he would later host SNL, nine years after being let go.
“Lorne is a very understanding person and I think he just wanted to show me that he had confidence in me,” Wayans said.
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