For 50 years, Saturday Night Live has been an American institution, a launch pad for some of the greatest comedians ever, and a platform for some of the most iconic musical performances in television history.
There was the time when comedian John Belushi invited LA punks Fear onto the show on Halloween 1981, and a bunch of hardcore kids, including Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye and Cro-Mags founder Harley Flanagan, caused chaos on the set with the first ever mainstream television moshpit. Eleven years on, on the day in January 1992 that Nevermind knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous album from the summit of the Billboard 200 chart, Nirvana stormed through Smells Like Teen Spirit and Territorial Pissings, trashed the SNL set, and then outraged middle America and the show's sponsors by pretending to make out with one another onstage. There have been countless more memorable moments: The Beastie Boys tearing through Sabotage, John Frusciane literally sabotaging a Red Hot Chili Peppers appearance, Rage Against The Machine getting thrown out of the studio before a scheduled performance of Bullet In The Head, the list goes on.
Until this weekend, however, we had no idea that, had events taken a different course, the world could potentially have witnessed one of America's most notorious rappers getting his ass shaved on SNL by an Oscar-winning English actress.
The story came to light during the December 5 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show on BBC1, courtesy of Titanic / Mare of Easttown actress Kate Winslet. In the course of the evening's conversation on the chat show, Winslet recalled the events surrounding her invitation to host Saturday Night Live on October 30, 2004. Following some over-blown 'scandal' involving pop star Ashlee Simpson lip-syncing badly on the show the previous week, Winslet was asked to not only sing live, but also tap-dance during her opening monologue on the show, and given just 24 hours to rehearse, which she admitted to finding "terrifying".
This, however, wasn't the only surprise she would face while hosting the show.
"This is a story I’ve never, never told," Winslet said to Norton and fellow guests Seth Meyers, Alan Carr and Jacinda Arden. "Eminem asked me to shave his bottom."
When a gobsmacked Norton asked if this request was supposed to involve a hand-held razor, Winslet recreated the encounter, imitating Eminem, who was booked on the show to perform two songs from his Encore album.
"He said, 'Would you shave my butt?' And I said, I’m sorry. I don’t do personal grooming. I’m not going to go with a BIC and get your crack love!"
Fair play, boundaries are important.
Watch Winslet share the story below.
