Damon Wayans On ‘SNL' Sketch That Got Him Fired: "I Snapped, I Just Did Not Care"

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the film that led to his dismissal from the NBC late-night sketch show.

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Yeah, I got fired. We're going to talk about it," Wayans says in the fourth episode of the series, season 11, titled "The Weird Year.

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with Eddie Murphy, who shared some advice after his departure from the sketch comedy show.

Eddie told me, 'Write your own material. If you don't, they'll give you some stereotypical stuff to do as a black person, and you won't be happy with it,' Wayans said.

The comedian stated that he tried to offer some of his character ideas to the show, "but they would reject my pitches," stating "Every idea I came up with would eventually be used by the writers."

Wayans said they were casting him in stereotypical roles and sometimes he'd have to stand up for himself, saying, "I'm like, 'No way.' I'd tell them, 'Listen, my mother's going to watch this show. I can't do this. I won't do it.'"

He refused to play into black stereotypes, but ended up reinforcing a gay stereotype in a sketch that led to his firing.

In episode 12 of the season, Wayans and co-star Randy Quaid portrayed cops in the "Mr. Monopoly" sketch. While rehearsing the scene, Wayans played the character as the writers originally intended, but during the live taping, he deviated from the script and portrayed the character as a flamboyant gay stereotype.

Guest host Griffin Dunne said, "I thought it was strange, but people still laughed. Then Lorne fired him pretty much as he walked off the stage."

Wayans said, "I snapped. I just didn't care. I intentionally did that because I wanted [Michaels] to fire me."

Lorne Michaels said firing Wayans was "really, really hard, but it had to be done."

As host after being fired almost nine years ago.

“Lorne is a very understanding person and I think he just wanted to tell me that he believed in me,” Wayans added.

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