Garrett Morris calls Lorne Michaels a "genius," reflects on racism behind the scenes at SNL and defends Dave Chappelle

The Hollywood Reporter

In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 84-year-old Morris recalled getting hired at Saturday Night Live  -- when Michaels was told "Get rid of him. He’s not talented." He also recalled SNL writer Michael O’Donoghue objecting to Morris' suggestion that he play a doctor in a sketch because, as he put it, “Garrett, people would be thrown by a Black doctor.” But Morris says Michaels wasn't aware of the behind-the-scenes racism. As for his time on SNL, Morris says: "I was not an angel, OK? I used a lot of drugs then. So a whole lot of things I was doing, you’re not supposed to. Lorne did have reason to fire me on more than one occasion. He never did. I see him as not at all racist. But I do see him as a genius who, if he hires you, he’ll be the one to fire you. And in those five years, he dealt with all of us that way. A couple times, he verbally abused me. But look, when they told him to get rid of me, he didn’t do that. He allowed me to audition for something else. It wasn’t just writers who wanted me gone; it was some NBC executives, too. Lorne didn’t do that. So how can you do anything but thank him for that? Because without Saturday Night Live, I certainly would not have been nationally known." Speaking of the recent controversy over Chappelle's The Closer, Morris says: "Relax, everybody, this is comedy. Everybody can be the butt of a joke. And why should it be that if we joke about you, it’s sacrilege? You sit in the audience and laugh at jokes about everybody else. If we make a joke about trans (people) or gays, suddenly it’s sacrilege. And that’s what I got from that. I don’t see what’s wrong with that, with all due respect. I see it as nothing but a man saying publicly, 'This is what I do.' And if you can’t understand that this is comedy coming at you, then don’t live in a society that’s multicultural." Morris adds that he agrees with Chappelle and J.K. Rowling that "gender is a fact."