Lists about Saturday Night Live cast members, hosts, musical acts, and backstage antics of America's favorite sketch comedy series, airing from 30 Rockefeller Plaza since 1975.

Live from New York!

Controversial

Since&nbsp;Saturday Night Live&nbsp;debuted on NBC on October 11, 1975, the weekly late-night live sketch/variety show has had more than 150 cast members. Some of the actors have remained on the show for years - for instance, Kenan Thompson is the longest-tenured cast member in show history, having been with SNL for 17 seasons (2003-present).&nbsp;Others have lasted for just&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-one-season-snl-cast-members/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">one season</a>,&nbsp;if that.

And when cast members do leave&nbsp;SNL, the breakup can be messy or confusing. Shane Gillis never even got to appear on an episode before public backlash over the comedian&#39;s history of offensive comments led to the show letting him go. Unlike Charles Rocket, Jenny Slate didn&#39;t get fired in the immediate aftermath of accidentally <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/every-snl-f-word/tracey-graham" target="_blank">dropping an F-bomb</a> during a&nbsp;broadcast. But when she&nbsp;did&nbsp;get fired at the end of the season, she only found out about it when she went online. Even cast members who became breakout stars on SNL have been let go.&nbsp;Adam Sandler still isn&#39;t sure why he and Chris Farley were let go following the 1995 season.

Here are some of the more unusual, confusing, or controversial reasons why&nbsp;SNL cast members have gotten fired.

Cast Members Who Were Controversially Fired From 'SNL'

Person

The Most Controversial 'Saturday Night Live' Firings

TGWrites

Entertainment

What was the most controversial movie from <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-famous-period-movies-set-in-year-you-were-born/mike-mcgranaghan" target="_blank">the year you were born</a>? If you entered this world between 1970 and 2000, you&#39;re about to find out. Knowing the answer isn&#39;t just about having a cool piece of trivia;&nbsp;it can also provide&nbsp;insight into where we were&nbsp;culturally at different times. The most controversial film of your birth year may shed&nbsp;light on the issues people were grappling with at the time.

Movies can raise a fuss for different reasons. Some of the following titles pushed the envelope in terms of sex and violence. Some shattered taboos related to religion, politics, or cultural mores. In each case, this list will delve into the specific causes of&nbsp;the controversy, as well as any lingering implications&nbsp;it&nbsp;may have had. At the same time, you&#39;ll find&nbsp;solid viewing recommendations here. Looking for a film that will give you something to discuss and debate with others? Here are 31 motion pictures guaranteed to do just that.

The Most Controversial Movie From The Year You Were Born

Film

Mike McGranaghan

Just like there are <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/films-accused-of-copyright-infringement/matthewcoleweiss" target="_blank">movies accused of copyright infringement</a>, there are comics charged with stealing intellectual property (IP).&nbsp;IP is a complicated thing. Protecting original ideas is a difficult, if not impossible, task. This is particularly true for indie <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/notable-comic-book-creator_s)/reference?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">comic book producers</a> who seem to be exempt from the many copyright infringement loopholes major companies get to enjoy. &nbsp;Graphic novel producers, both large and small, have participated in some form of copying of other people’s works. The fine line between theft and admiration is often about as easy to see as a thread of silk on one of Spider-Man’s fingertips. In fact, even the creators of Spider-Man have had a few accusations thrown at them. Some of the worst cases of stolen comic&nbsp;materials have emerged quite recently.Sadly, even in situations where plagiarism is blindingly obvious, people&nbsp;tend&nbsp;to look the other way. After all, it's always difficult to tell where the line is between inspiration and flat-out&nbsp;copying.&nbsp;This list is a thought-provoking look at comic book producers' darkest secret:&nbsp;plagiarism. These comics only exist because they pushed the limits of inspiration, sometimes even just&nbsp;stealing&nbsp;their material. Vote up the blatantly obvious copycat comics.&nbsp;

The Comic Book Industry Is Plagued By Plagiarism, And No One Can Stop It

Comic Book Series

Great Comic Books That Exist Thanks to Plagiarism

Cynthia Griffith

How to ask, what to wear, celebrity photos, and other things that happen when teenagers put on ballgowns and tuxedos. 

Everything Prom

Study these cautionary lists about the ensembly challenged to help you ward off a visit from the fashion police.

Fashion Victims

Living

This list of outfits that got kids kicked out of prom will definitely surprise you, and not because the looks are scandalous. You may have heard of Aniya&nbsp;Wolf, the student from <a href="http://www.ranker.com/tags/high-school?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag" target="_blank">Bishop McDevitt High School</a> who was banned from her prom for wearing a tux instead of a dress. But girls wearing tuxes to prom is just the beginning.

Can you guess why 16-year-old David Leix was denied entry into his prom? His family heirloom kilt, passed down to him by his late grandfather, was the culprit. David was accused of wearing a &quot;dress-like&quot; outfit by a volunteer who denied him entrance, then had to wait two hours outside of prom while a friend&#39;s parent brought him a change of pants. &nbsp;

Then, there&#39;s Brittany Minder, who was denied access to her prom because of inappropriate cleavage when she was actually appropriately covered. She just had a different&nbsp;body type than average, and school officials couldn&#39;t handle it. And what crazy outfit did Shafer Rupard wear that got her kicked out of prom? Simply a pair of red pants. Then, there&#39;s Gabi Finalyson, who was accused of violating her school&#39;s modesty dress code, even though&nbsp;she had her dress specially altered just so she could meet the school&#39;s requirements.&nbsp;

Check out these outfits that were banned from prom, and vote up the most unjust prom outfit scandals.

Outfits That Got Kids Kicked Out of Prom

General

Candice Darden

Casting can be controversial, whether it&#39;s whitewashing, race-switching, or picking anyone to play Batman.&nbsp;When it comes to film adaptations, most devoted fans have an actor in mind that they think would be perfect for our favorite role. More often than not, such <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/actors-who-got-roles-with-no-experience/anncasano" target="_blank">casting dreams are dashed</a> to bits on the rocks of Hollywood, leaving us to pick up the pieces and scream to the heavens (or Twitter) about what could have been.

Seemingly every major casting decision in the late 2010s is at least a little bit contentious, with actors like Michael B. Jordan and Ben Affleck kicking up dust over their comic book movies. Internet denizens weren&#39;t happy and they <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/tweets-that-backfired/jacobybancroft" target="_blank">took to social media</a> to express their wrath in 140 characters. But it&#39;s not just superhero films that provide <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/worst-casting-choices-in-movies/benjamin-dunn" target="_blank">fodder for casting arguments</a>: since the &#39;30s, there have been fan backlashes about the actors picked to portray beloved characters from fiction. With this list, we&#39;ve picked some of the most controversial casting choices ever.

When it comes to casting a major studio film, we don&#39;t know the ins and outs of the system, but we do know that probably shouldn&#39;t go out of your way to anger loyalists on the Internet, which is exactly what all the decisions on this list did. Of course, plenty of these actors ended up creating the definitive takes on their characters after all the hubbub.

Check out the list of the most controversial casting decisions of all time, if you think you can handle all the venom.

Idris Elba - Heimdall

The Most Controversial Casting Decisions of All Time

Jacob Prefers Ledger To Nicholson

Controversial Casting Decisions | Times Fans Were Furious Over Casting

Jacob Shelton

Music History

It has been a wild and interesting life for Irish-born singer/songwriter Sinead O&#39;Connor. Her breakout album The Lion and the Cobra put her in the spotlight, and her timeless 1990 cover of Prince&#39;s &quot;Nothing Compares 2 U&quot;&nbsp;generated&nbsp;a sudden, meteoric rise to fame. However, her most infamous performance took place a couple of years later in 1992&nbsp;on Saturday Night Live, of all places. Her appearance that night changed the trajectory of O&#39;Connor&#39;s career and her relationship with the wider public.

The past was cruel to O&#39;Connor, the present more vindicating. Today, she&nbsp;is well known for her outspoken stances on women&#39;s liberation, organized religion, and child abuse. In her&nbsp;SNL&nbsp;showing, she checked every one of those boxes, slamming the Catholic Church on national television and desecrating a photograph of the Pope in front of a live studio audience. The act brought her instant infamy.

Though she found continued success in later years, the long-term effects of her controversial, career-defining moment on&nbsp;Saturday Night Live&nbsp;are still felt years later.

An In-Depth Behind-The-Scenes Look At Sinead O'Connor's Controversial 'SNL' Appearance

An In-Depth Behind-The-Scenes Look At Sinead O'Connor's SNL Appearance

Oliver Pretl-Drummond

Lists about great movies that took chances and strayed from that same boring formula.

And Now, Something Different

Behind The Scenes

Do you remember the end of&nbsp;Inception? After the heist to end all heists, Cobb finally finds himself back with his children; however, in a story concerned with the nature of reality, neither the audience nor Cobb are sure if what he is seeing is real. So, our protagonist spins his totem to prove he is in the real world, but we are not shown the results of the test. The top just keeps spinning as Cobb joins his children. How about the ending to Planet of the Apes? The Usual Suspects? These are&nbsp;endings that sparked major controversy, and bloggers, writers, and trolls all across the world continue to dissect&nbsp;them to this day.&nbsp;

Movies are made to provoke a certain kind of reaction from audiences - getting them to&nbsp;freak out, or maybe&nbsp;even question the nature of their reality. Yet, good film or bad, the ending is what really makes or breaks it. Abrupt endings&nbsp;and closing twists are what people remember about the film. Filmmakers spend plenty&nbsp;of time testing and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/movies-that-changed-endings-people-freaked-out/mike-mcgranaghan" target="_blank">rewriting endings</a> in the hopes that they will resonate in popular culture. That&#39;s why there seems to be so many <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/the-15-most-fascinating-alternate-endings-to-famous-movies/jf-sargent" target="_blank">alternate endings</a> these days.&nbsp;

This list looks at some of the stories behind the most controversial movie endings that made everyone freak out.

Behind The Movie Endings That Everyone Freaked Out About

Josh Plainse

At least once per year, something happens on TV that shocks viewers, generates thousands of angry phone calls and letters (remember the pre-internet era??), changes the TV landscape forever, or just gets talked about endlessly for weeks afterwards.The most controversial TV moments from the year you were born may have been the result of a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unexpected-things-that-happened-on-live-tv/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">simple accident </a>or came out of a well-orchestrated plot twist. Either way, the most thought-provoking, conversation-stimulating, outrageous moments from TV continue to shock, surprise, and provoke.&nbsp;

Here are the most controversial TV moments by year, going back decades. Which ones still grab your attention?&nbsp;

The Most Controversial TV Moment From The Year You Were Born

Melissa Sartore

Parenting

Children&#39;s television is supposed to be full of innocent and inoffensive material,&nbsp;and restrictions are put in place to regulate what children can see. In spite of these directives,&nbsp;there are plenty of kids&#39; show <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/kids-movies-that-caused-controversies/mike-mcgranaghan" target="_blank">controversies</a> out there. Whether the drama happens on screen or behind the scenes, many of your <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-90s-kids-shows/ranker-tv" target="_blank">childhood favorites</a> - or your own children&#39;s go-to programs - have courted scandal. These controversies range from perceived sexual innuendos to supposedly politically incorrect jokes, and some even allegedly made viewers feel ill.&nbsp;

The issue of censorship often proves a double-edged sword, as different shows have been accused of leaving inappropriate&nbsp;content in that should have been removed, while cutting things out that some felt should have been left in. Obviously, where young and impressionable minds are involved, oversensitivity abounds. Regardless, these shows caused quite a stir.

Kids' Shows That Proved Surprisingly Controversial

TV Program

14 Kids' Shows That Proved Surprisingly Controversial

Hannah Collins

As long as there is TV, there will always be controversial television episodes. But sometimes, the nature of the controversy is serious enough that an episode will be taken off the air. These banned TV episodes were found to be too inappropriate for audiences.For certain shows, the&nbsp;content was so bad, these episodes never aired. For others, it was taken out of rotation briefly as a <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/movies-and-shows-canceled-because-of-real-life-tragedies/mike-rothschild">response to a real-life tragedy</a>. Whether it was sexual themes, racist undertones, religious iconography, or just poor timing, all of these episodes were pulled from broadcast&nbsp;for being more trouble than they were worth. Check out these shows that had to pull the plug on an episode; some were totally predictable, but the rest might surprise you.

15 TV Episodes That Were Pulled from the Air (Or Never Aired at All)

TV Episode

15 Banned TV Episodes That Were Pulled From the Air

Katie Mach

If you don't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else? Let the music play!

RuPaul's Drag Race

As RuPaul and her children often remind us, RuPaul&rsquo;s Drag Race is the Olympics of drag. The competition is a test of endurance, skill, and patience. These attributes don&#39;t even begin to scratch the surface of charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent. To survive is difficult, and to rise above the rest is nigh impossible.&nbsp;

Well, in theory. If we&rsquo;ve learned anything from watching the Olympics of drag, everyone knows all of these metrics are thrown out the window when RuPaul gets into a mood or the other queens have a score to settle. In addition to showcasing their skills, the queens also need to be likable and able to appeal to Ru&rsquo;s sensibilities.&nbsp;

The audience only gets to see a highlighted selection of events that transpire in the workroom and on the runway, leaving the questionable editorial decisions up to mass speculation. The internet flies into a frenzy, wild judgments are made, threats are sent to whichever queen sent home our favorites, and everyone cries out in unison: It&rsquo;s rigga morris, girl.

In a way, there has been a secondary shadow competition this entire time - who got the most robbed?&nbsp;

The 15 Most Controversial Eliminations From 'RuPaul's Drag Race'

RuPaul's Drag Race's Most Controversial Eliminations

WARNING: This list contains explicit <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/greatest-album-covers">album covers</a> and imagery, including some photos of real death and gore. NSFW, NSFL. View at your own risk.&nbsp;Numerous metal, grindcore, and gorecore bands—as well as less blatantly offensive acts like Guns N' Roses and America's British sweethearts, the Beatles—have issued controversial album covers that raised the ire of retailers, parent groups, Christian organizations, and even US politicians. Alongside dark and coarse lyrics, many of these album covers led to the application of the&nbsp;Parental Advisory label on the packaging, and many more were banned outright and replaced with generic artwork. &nbsp;This list compiles some of the most infamous, <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-shocking-moments-in-comics/ranker-comics?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the most shocking</a>, and the most gruesome of these album covers. (You will note that the focus here is on dark, violent, or disturbing content. Album covers that were controversial for sexual themes or &quot;indecency&quot; are not included.)

25 Controversial and Disturbing Album Covers

The 25 Most Controversial Album Covers of All Time

Christopher Shultz

Lists about films and TV shows told by the visuals-intensive medium that allows storytellers to weave fantastical legends told by unforgettable characters.

Animation Mania

Not every banned cartoon episode on this list is even too&nbsp;controversial. Sure, some are. At their best, cartoons - like Professor Frink on The Simpsons - make us laugh and make us think. At their worst, they can inspire angry people to a frenzy. That&#39;s rare, though. Some of these censored episodes offended the very religious, some are hideously stereotypical,&nbsp;while others have transgressions that are minor by today&#39;s standards. Many of these are from controversial shows, the kind you&#39;d expect to be on here for their deliberately provocative nature, but certainly not all.

We&#39;ll keep the list to one episode per show, or else this could have been entirely filled with <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/most-controversial-south-park-episodes/daniel-kohn">incendiary South Park episodes</a> and installments of&nbsp;Beavis and Butt-Head and Family Guy that kicked up dust and were pulled from the air. Those titans of toon trash-talk get their due, but they&#39;re far from the only shows to get episodes yanked, rejiggered, and in some cases never restored.

15 Cartoon Episodes So Controversial They Were Banned

Cartoon Episodes That Were Banned from the Air

Luke Y Thompson

Lists about novelists, poets, short story authors, journalists, essayists, and playwrights, from simple rankings to fun facts about the men and women behind the pens.

People Who Write

As writing can be a provocative practice that often requires challenging social norms and common convention, it&#39;s no surprise history has given us so many controversial novelists. Love them or hate them, no one can argue the infamous authors below were sources of great public scrutiny and debate. These scribes penned some of the most commonly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-books-that-have-been-banned/ranker-books" target="_blank">banned books</a>&nbsp;and took a lot of heat from the public, their contemporaries, literary critics, and the occasional frantic&nbsp;parent high on <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/moral-panic-examples/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">moral panic</a>.&nbsp;

What makes an author controversial? Sometimes, the ideas they present spark outrage. Ayn Rand has a long history of provoking anger amongst&nbsp;those who do not take kindly to her impassioned libertarian ideals and Christopher Hitchens&nbsp;certainly did not make many friends of the religiously inclined. Sometimes, however, it&#39;s less the content and more the execution that makes an author debate-worthy. Some of the most controversial writers of the 21st&nbsp;century, like Stephenie Meyer and E.L. James,&nbsp;have been panned for their subpar prose. There are also children and young adult authors whose work is thought to be a little&nbsp;too&nbsp;raunchy for impressionable minds. There&#39;s a reason Judy Blume&#39;s work frequently shows up on banned books lists.&nbsp;

Which of the below authors do you think is the most controversial? From recent writers to historic scribes, cast your vote below to decide on the most controversial writer of all time! Then explore a different method of shocking the bourgeoisie with <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/counterculture-scene-from-every-decade/megan-summers" target="_blank">our photo survey of every decade&#39;s counterculture since 1900</a>.

Which Authors Deserve Their Controversial Reputations?

The Most Controversial Writers of All Time

Writer

The 50 Most Controversial Writers of All Time, Ranked

Ranker Books

What was going on the year you were born? A look at the most popular things happening in entertainment, music, and even real world news while you were busy cycling through naps.

The Year You Were Born

What was the most controversial TV episode the year you were born?&nbsp;

Some television shows intentionally provoke their viewers. <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/most-controversial-south-park-episodes/daniel-kohn" target="_blank">South Park, for example</a>, has been offering satire, parody, and commentary on politics, popular culture, religion, and numerous other topics for years. Other television shows have the best intentions but, occasionally, offer an episode that really misses the mark.&nbsp;

Each year, controversial episodes of TV shows make their way to air. Whether it&#39;s the events of the episode, an unforeseen or unexpected death, or a simple error made in production, TV shows can keep viewers talking for days, weeks, or months. Shows that make statements about contemporaneous real-world events offer similar fodder for discussion.&nbsp;

To get some insight into headline grabbing entertainment, Take a look at the most controversial TV episodes by year since 1970.

The Most Controversial TV Episode From The Year You Were Born

Politics

Abortion is a practice that goes back at least as far as recorded history. The Chinese performed abortions with toxic herbs some 4,700 years ago, and the 3,500-year-old Eber's Papyrus tells us that the Ancient Egyptians were no strangers to family planning. Even the Bible takes a pretty strong stance on the matter.Abortion and religion have long been hotly debated topics, especially when politicians are involved. When it comes down to it, however, abortion is murder, and should be banned in the United States.&nbsp;Check out this list, and its companion, <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/pro-choice-arguments/richard-rowe">Every Compelling Argument for Why Pro-Choice Is Right</a>, to get informed opinions about the abortion debate. Vote up the reasons why abortions should be banned immediately below, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comment section.

Here's Why Abortions Should Be Banned Now

Pro Life Arguments | Reasons to Be Against Abortion, Ranked

Richard Rowe

Controversial lists at Ranker - The ultimate source for hundreds of controversial lists and rankings