Adrien Brody Claims He Wasn’t Banned from SNL After Infamous Jamaican Bit But Says He’s ‘Never Been Invited Back’

The actor strayed off script to introduce Sean Paul as the musical guest on the May 2003 episode he hosted

By 

Updated on January 7, 2025 12:04PM EST

Adrien Brody is not banned from Saturday Night Live — at least, as far as he knows.

The actor, 51, hosted the show in May 2003, and infamously introduced musical guest Sean Paul, who hails from Jamaica, in a bizarre Jamaican accent while wearing dreadlocks. He’s never returned to the late-night sketch comedy show, but in an interview with Vulture, he denied being banned from it, per se.

“But I also have never been invited back on, so I don’t know what to tell you,” he said when asked about the show.

Brody admitted that he thinks Lorne Michaels “wasn’t happy with me embellishing a bit” but clarified the show “allowed” him to introduce the singer the way he did.

“I thought that was a safe space to do that, weirdly,” he said.

In the 40-second introduction, instead of following the typical script, which would have been for Brody to say, “Ladies and gentleman, Sean Paul,” Brody repeated a series of stereotypical Jamaican phrases, beginning with “Ya mon,” and including a mention of Rastafari and a series of jokes about the musician’s family all being named iterations of “Sean.” Mixed into the introduction were also a few mentions about having a “great show” for the audience, a common thing for SNL hosts to say.

Brody told Vulture that he pitched quite a few sketches in the lead-up to his hosting gig, including the unusual Sean Paul introduction, and recalled the cast being “literally agape from me pitching” the idea.

Brody is far from the only star to have had a headline-making SNL performance. More than a decade earlier, Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor had an arguably even more controversial moment when she was the musical guest, as she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II at the end of her performance of “War” by Bob Marley.

“Fight the real enemy,” she told the audience after ripping the photo.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Following the stunt, Michaels called for the studio’s “Applause” sign to not be lit and O’Connor was banned for life from NBC. The clip of her ripping up the picture was also not shown in reruns of the SNL episode. 

Brody’s SNL hosting stint followed his win at the Oscars for The Pianist — he made history as the youngest actor ever to win Best Actor at just 29 — and this year, he’s poised once again to be a contender in the category for The Brutalist.

He won a Golden Globe for the performance on Jan. 5 and was emotional in his acceptance speech as he gave a shoutout to his “beautiful and amazing” girlfriend Georgina Chapman as he said, “I would not be standing here before you if it wasn’t for you.” He also credited his parents, who were at the show with him, as he said they “always hold me up.”

“This story is really the character’s journey is very reminiscent of my mother’s and my ancestral journey of fleeing the horrors of war coming to this great country and you know, I owe so much to my mother and my grandparents for their sacrifice,” he added, referring to his character’s history as a Hungarian-born Jew who fled the Holocaust.