Leslie Jones reflected on her path to "Saturday Night Live" in a new profile in the New Yorker. The comedian talked about her audition for the legendary show and what she said to her fellow co-star Kenan Thompson about his comments in 2013 on why the show did not feature any female black comedians.
Jones had a successful first audition for "Saturday Night Live," which earned her a spot as a writer on the show and eventually led her to become a part of the cast. She revealed that during her audition Lorne Michaels and the other producers were sitting in the back of a very dark studio during her audition, something she did not like.
"I got onstage, took the mike out of the stand, and went, 'Nope. Y'all are gonna have to move up to where I can see you,'" Jones told the magazine. "And Lorne [Michaels] got his ass up and moved."
Jones also spoke about those controversial comments that Thompson made to TV Guide when he was asked why the show did not cast any black female comedians. "It's just a tough part of the business," Thompson said at the time. "Like in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready."
Just two months after Thompson made the comment, Jones auditioned for the show, according to Entertainment Weekly. The role ended up going to Sasheer Zamata, but Jones was hired as a writer and one year later was offered the featured player role on the show. Jones said that once she shared a building with Thompson, she confronted him about what he said.
"I came at him, like, 'I heard what you said, motherf---er.' He said, 'Come in, close the door, let's talk,'" Jones, who now calls Thompson "possibly [her] best friend on the show," told the magazine.
