Comedian and actress Leslie Jones joined NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in 2014 before leaving five years later in 2019. Now, years after her exit, the “Ghostbusters” star is reflecting on her experience with the show, revealing that she found the sketches she appeared in to be frustratingly stereotypical.
Her latest comments come after the 58-year-old said the long-running series turned her into a caricature.
Jones appeared on “The Sam Sanders Show” in June 2026. While on the show, the topic of her five-year run on “Saturday Night Live” arose, with her calling the experience “bittersweet,” stating that she felt typecast by the show’s writers, while also understanding that one of the hallmarks of the show is that they “make you a character of yourself.”
According to her, “It was kind of frustrating that they would always make me the girl that was angry and beating up people or in love with a white boy. They just always would make me angry or I’m fighting somebody.”
Regarding why she agreed to take part in the skits, she found problematic, Jones said, “I wanted to be on the show. And at the time, I didn’t think that [typecasting] was what was happening till it kept happening. And then, like, every time I would get a sketch, I was like, ‘Okay, who am I beating up this week?’”
Leslie Still Values Her Time On ‘Saturday Night Live’
The “SNL” alum continued to recall her time on the show, admitting that being typecast by the writers hasn’t fully tainted her experience. She revealed, “I loved being there. It was great, it was fun, but I don’t miss the mental part of it.”
Later in the interview, the host asked Jones if, based on her experience, she felt “Saturday Night Live” was “a good place” for black comedians. She responded, “I think that it is the machine that it is.”
‘SNL’ Fans Are Reacting To What Jones Said About The Show
Following Jones’ comments on “The Sam Sanders Show,” fans are reacting on social media. For the most part, they understand her feelings, but many think that her comedy outside of “Saturday Night Live” is similar to what she delivered on the series.
One person said, “…have you seen her standup? She writes herself like that.” Someone else wrote, “What a narcissist. Chris Farley was always the fat, dim-witted guy, and he never openly complained.”
A different “SNL” fan stated, “Then how about do what every other successful person on SNL did. Write your own stuff and pitch it.”
In support of the “Ghostbusters” actress, one social media user said, “Leslie Jones is my favorite and so wonderful in any Avenue acting comes to her. Even rocked the hell out of revived TV show Supermarket Sweep. Wish there were more seasons. So fun. Love her!”
After that, someone recalled one of her skits, saying, “It was hilarious when she kept calling Peter Dinklage his ‘Game of Thrones’ name, Tyrion, in the ‘Naked & Afraid’ sketch. But she’s one of those ‘a little goes a long way’ chicks.”
Jones interviewed with NPR in 2023. When asked about her time on “Saturday Night Live,” she expressed sentiments similar to her most recent comments. According to her, “I’ve been doing comedy so long, it’s like, I know what I am.”
She continued, “At ‘SNL,’ they take that one thing, and they wring it. They wring it because that’s the machine. So whatever it is that I’m giving that they’re so happy about, they feel like it’s got to be that all the time, or something like that.”
After that, she went into more detail about her time on the show, saying, “So it was, like, a caricature of myself, you know what I’m saying? So it was like, now either I’m trying to love on the white boys or beat up on the white boys, or I’m doing something just, like, loud. I knew once I did these things, though—I knew it was going to happen, because I know the power of them.”
Still, she acknowledged that this was the nature of the show and wasn’t unique to her. During the interview, she used former “SNL” cast member Taran Killam as an example, noting, “Taran wanted to do so much other stuff, but they would only have Taran in those very masculine [roles] and singing and stuff.”
Leslie Jones Is Going On Tour
According to her official website, Jones is embarking on the “I’m Hot Tour,” with dates beginning on July 4 in California and going until November of this year in Florida. That’s not all, as the “Saturday Night Live” alum is also hosting a new HGTV series, “Roast My Rental,” premiering July 24.
The series will feature the Emmy-nominated comedian “roasting” short-term rentals.
