Sharon Stone opened up about her experience hosting Saturday Night Live in 1992. During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live on Aug. 17, the actress said her hosting gig on the NBC late-night show was “interesting” because it took place just after the movie Basic Instinct was released.
“I had done Basic Instinct, and at that time there was a lot of controversy about the film in the beginning,” Stone, 67, told host Andy Cohen. “It wasn’t like it is now, where people don’t give a s—. But in that moment, people were, there was a ton of controversy about the homosexuality, about the nudity, about everything. It was such a scandal.”
Stone recalled an angry group of protesters threatened her just as the show went live on April 11, 1992.
“When I came out there was a group of people in the audience that were protesters, and so we started shooting live, because it’s live, and these protesters started coming toward the stage saying they were going to kill me,” Stone said. “And everybody froze. And all of a sudden, Lorne [Michaels], who is really non-reactive, I hear him screaming to the cops, ‘What are you doing? Watching the f—ing show?!’”
“And the cops snapped out of it, and they started grabbing the guys, beating the s— out of them and handcuffing them,” she said.
Stone added that she was stunned when the cameraman expected her to step right back into action after holding for five seconds.
“And I’m watching them handcuff the guys, and he goes, ‘Five, four.’ And I went, ‘What?’”she recalled. “And he goes, ‘We’re live, honey.’ And I went, ‘What?’ And they’re handcuffing and beating the s— out of them. They’re handcuffing the guys. and I start the monologue and I’m like, I don’t know where I am.”
The Live Version of Sharon Stone’s SNL Monologue Was Replaced in Reruns
When Stone hosted the April 1992 episode of SNL with Pearl Jam as the musical guest, only live viewers saw the original monologue.
In the version that plays in reruns, Stone is still seen recreating a toned-down parody of her famous Basic Instinct interrogation scene.
But according to the One SNL a Day Project blog, the version seen online and in reruns is the dress rehearsal version, which replaced the live version after the protestors’ ruckus. The blog post reveals that during the live taping, audience members from a gay activist group were heard chanting “Fight AIDS, not women!” in reference to the movie’s “negative portrayal of LGBT characters.”
The blog also noted, “While the protesters are still loudly chanting, another voice in the studio can be heard calling out ‘Security!’ … which is followed by the protesters’ chanting voices fading away as they’re seemingly being taken away by security guards.”
Related: ‘SNL’ Cast Member Ad-Libs Bit In Response to Audience Cursing on Live TV
