Was Norm Macdonald fired from SNL?
NORM Macdonald was a stand-up actor and comedian who joined the Saturday Night Live cast in 1993.
Macdonald died after a nine year private battle with cancer on September 14, 2021.
Don Ohlmeyer, president of NBC's West Coast division, had the comedian removed as Weekend Update anchor in 1998. At the time, Ohlmeyer cited the reasons for Macdonald's removal as "decline in ratings and a drop-off in quality."
However, Macdonald believed he was dismissed after he made a series of jokes about O.J. Simpson and the Nicole Brown Simpson trial.
"It occurred to me, I haven't gotten funnier. The show has gotten really bad!"
In later years, Macdonald moved past his O.J. Simpson joke theory and came to the conclusion that Ohlmeyer removed him because he was seen as insubordinate.
"I think the whole show was tired of me not taking marching orders. Lorne would hint at things.... I'd do Michael Jackson jokes. And Lorne would say, 'do you really want a lawsuit from Michael Jackson?' And I'd say, 'Cool! That'd be f****** cool, Michael Jackson suing me!'"
Besides television work, Macdonald also starred in a number of films including The People vs. Larry Flynt and Dr. Dolittle.
What type of cancer did Norm Macdonald have?
The comedian's management firm confirmed his death to , and revealed the SNL star was fighting cancer for almost a decade.
The pair had one child, Dylan, who was born in 1993. Connie and Macdonald divorced in 1999.
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What was Norm Macdonald's net worth?
, according to
He participated in the trivia contest Who Wants to Be a Millionaire back in 2000 and won $500,000, donating the funds to charity.
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