Jorma Taccone, a member of the comedy trio The Lonely Island, has disclosed that Kevin Spacey was the only Saturday Night Live host he was not enthusiastic about working with during his tenure on the show. Taccone, alongside Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer, created digital shorts for SNL from 2005 to 2011, a period when the late-night program began integrating internet content into its comedy. This meant the writers frequently interacted with weekly guest hosts and musical acts.
In a recent episode of The Daily Beast's podcast Obsessed, Taccone, now 49, stated, "In general, I liked almost every host that came to SNL." However, he admitted there was one celebrity he "wasn't super geeked on." Hesitating, he confessed, "I've never said this before," before revealing it was Spacey, who hosted SNL for a second time in May 2006 with musical guest Nelly Furtado. Taccone recalled, "I did not enjoy that, and felt very uncomfortable around him," though he declined to provide further details.
Spacey's Legal Troubles
Spacey, a former two-time Oscar winner, faced exile from mainstream Hollywood in 2017 following multiple accusations of sexual misconduct from several men. He has consistently denied all allegations and maintained his innocence. In 2022, a jury cleared him in a $40 million civil lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp, who accused Spacey of molesting him at age 14. The following year, Spacey was tried in London on nine alleged sex offense charges from four men and was acquitted on all counts. Last month, he reached out-of-court civil settlements with three men over additional sexual assault allegations dating from 2000 to 2013.
Representatives for Spacey did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Taccone's statement.
Other SNL Cast Members' Experiences
Taccone is not the only SNL cast member to recount an uncomfortable encounter during Spacey's hosting stint. In 2022, Tina Fey revealed at the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival in Los Angeles that Spacey had flirted with her years before he came out as gay in response to the 2017 allegations. Fey said, "This is the kind of weird thing that used to happen to me. One time when he was hosting SNL, at the after-party, it was late and Kevin Spacey tried to hit on me." She joked about doubting his attraction, adding, "I was like, 'Who is this for? Who is this little performance for?'"
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