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Samuel L. Jackson is not actually banned from SNL, but he still blames Kenan Thompson for not being back

The actor last appeared on Saturday Night Live in 2012, and had a bit of a f---ing mishap.

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Published on March 25, 2022 07:50PM EDT

Samuel L. Jackson banned from Saturday Night Live? Ooh wee. What's Up With That?

The legendary actor and all-around bad mother [shutting our mouth] swung by The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday for a chat with guest host Leslie Jones, in which he reiterated his claim that Kenan Thompson is the reason he hasn't been seen on SNL in nearly a decade.

"Kenan got me banned from Saturday Night Live," he told Jones of her former castmate on the sketch comedy show. "He didn't cut me off soon enough and I said the forbidden word on television," he explained of saying the F-word on live television during a 2012 episode. "He was supposed to cut me off!"

So we'll never see the Royale with cheese enthusiast back in Studio 8H? Actually, no, that's not the truth, Ellen Leslie. Although the actor has not been back since the incident, EW has confirmed there is no official ban against Jackson in place at SNL.

After making his SNL hosting debut in 1998, Jackson last appeared on the Dec.15, 2012, episode hosted by Martin Short, playing himself in "What Up With That?" a recurring sketch where Thompson's talk show host character regularly interrupts his guests by breaking into song. Only this time, when the Pulp Fiction star began to curse he went uninterrupted, dropping a full F-bomb on the live show.

This isn't the first time the actor has jokingly blamed Thompson, his Snakes on a Plane costar, for the mishap, but his story has changed a little with time. He previously insisted he'd only said "fuh" on air, not the actual word.

In his chat with Jones, he seemed to have changed his tune. "I told him, if Sam was about to curse, you're supposed to cut him off. You know that's how we do it," Jones said about speaking to Thompson about it previously. "He didn't?" she asked, to which Jackson shook his head no. "Then I'm going to talk to him about that," she promised. "I will scold him on that."

Here's hoping we'll see Jackson on SNL again soon. Until then, he'll have another shot at making it through a live television event curse-free when he presents at the Academy Awards this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC, fresh off receiving his own honorary Oscar at Friday's Governors Awards ceremony.

Watch the (now-bleeped) sketch in question below:

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