Leslie Jones is revealing a heated confrontation that went down on the set of Saturday Night Live that still angers her—more than six years after the fact .
In a new appearance on the Touré Show podcast, Jones recounts an argument she got into while shooting “Beck & Kyle,” a pre-taped short from SNL‘s November 2017 episode hosted by Tiffany Haddish.
In the short—one of several that depicted a romantic relationship between Jones and cast member Kyle Mooney—Beck Bennett grows jealous of Mooney and Jones’ relationship. Colin Jost helps Bennett split up the pair, only to wind up brutally beaten by Jones, Bennett, Haddish, and even Lorne Michaels.
“The guy who would direct those was a f*cking a**hole,” Jones said. “And I don’t give a f*ck if you see this. You still are, probably, a f*cking d*ckhead. A f*cking narcissistic d*ckhead.”
“He’s just like one of them white boys who thought that he’s doing f*cking Shakespeare. No, this is a f*cking sketch. You’re not funny, and you’re not creating nothing beautiful. You’re just being an a**hole.”
“I can’t explain it,” she added. “It’s like a way a person can look at you, that you’re just like, ‘Yeah, I know you’re calling me a n****.’”
Jones said the argument took place after midnight between that Friday and Saturday, after she was left waiting on set for hours and threatened to go home.
According to Jones, the director asked her “What makes you so f*cking special?”
“I know you’re not f*cking talking to me,” she says she responded. “What makes me special is that the f*cking sketch is about me and Kyle, not you.”
After “squaring off” with the director, Haddish came out from her dressing room to back up Jones. She says they eventually continued shooting, with the director still on set.
Jones’ story appears to conflate two different shoots. She says the showdown happened during a scene in which she marries Mooney that also featured an “all-girl group” of three girls who were “the female Hanson.” That would point to the May 2017 short “Kyle and Leslie,” which featured musical guest Haim. “All I know is that that night was so steamed,” Jones said, recalling the group bearing witness to the drama. “They could have had popcorn.”
Jones did not identify the director she was referring to by name (noting only he was a “white boy,” a “Mormon,” and has a “big-a** Adam’s apple”), but the shorts about Jones and Mooney’s faux romance were directed by Dave McCary.
McCary joined Saturday Night Live as a segment director in 2013, alongside cast members Mooney and Bennett. The three had been members of the sketch group Good Neighbor for six years prior to joining SNL. McCary also directed Mooney in the feature film Brigsby Bear, which was co-written by Mooney and produced by The Lonely Island. McCary would also meet actress Emma Stone while working on SNL. The pair married in 2020. McCary departed SNL in 2018.
Jones’ recap of the fight can be viewed in full below.
