Ariana Baio
Sep 01, 2022
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Former Saturday Night Live cast member Rob Schneider revealed the moment he thinks ruined the show for good.
Schneider, 58, sat down with conservative media personality Glenn Beck to speak about politics, Hollywood, his career, and more for Beck's podcast.
During the conversation, Schneider said the moment Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election and SNL paid a tribute to her, he thought the show was "over" and "not going to come back".
The Saturday of election week in 2016, Kate McKinnon appeared dressed as Clinton for the 'cold open' where she played piano and sang a rendition of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.
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Schneider, an outspoken Republican, told Beck he hoped the performance would end in a joke and when it didn't, he felt SNL had stopped being a comedy show.
"I hate to crap on my old show," Schneider said. "I literally prayed 'please have a joke at the end, don't do this please don't go down there' and there was no joke at the end and I went 'it's over, it's over, it's not going to come back'".
\u201cComedy legend @RobSchneider tells me the moment he knew Saturday Night Live was "OVER": "I literally prayed, PLEASE have a joke at the end..."\u201d— Glenn Beck (@Glenn Beck) 1661731800
He added that he feels comedy routines often feel like they are 'indoctrinating' audiences.
Schneider was a writer for SNL from 1988 to 1990, afterwards he became a cast member until his departure in 1994.
The SNL alumni has found himself at the center of online controversies for promoting anti-vaccination theories over the last 10 years, including the Covid-19 vaccine, and supporting Donald Trump.
The comedian also told Beck he is willing to lose his career for the sake of speaking up for what he believes in.
"I don’t care about my career anymore,” Schneider said. “I care about my children’s — the country they’re going to live in.”
\u201cRob Schneider says he no longer cares about his career, making him only 28 years behind the rest of us.\u201d— Lou Hare (@Lou Hare) 1661901181
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