Saturday Night Live: 30 scandals and secrets you didn’t know

25. Martin Lawrence talks Lorena Bobbitt, gets banned

With every passing year, more and more people forget about Martin Lawrence. But back in the 1990s, he was one of the biggest comedians on television. His show Martin was one of the most beloved sitcoms on the air and Lawrence was on his way to becoming a big movie star.

But perhaps the biggest blemish from the height of his career was his SNL guest hosting spot. Lawrence took to the stage and dove into a rather interesting opening monologue. Specifically, it focused heavily on female anatomy and the Lorena Bobbitt case, to put it as politically correct as possible.

In subsequent repeats and syndicated reruns, the monologue was totally snipped from the episode. In its place, an information graphic was shown to the viewers. It gave the gist of what Lawrence said, noting that it nearly cost many SNL staffers their jobs. But you can still find transcripts of the bit online.

At another point in the episode, Lawrence called someone an “ass pirate” in a sketch. This was also considered to be risque at the time, and ruffled producers’ feathers even more. Lawrence’s dirty mouth led to the decision never to bring the comic back to the program.