12 Actors Who Screwed Up Their Big TV Chances By Getting Fired

5. Damon Wayans - Saturday Night Live

At the end of its eleventh season, Saturday Night Live had to be completely revamped. Returning show runner Lorne Michaels hired a completely new cast, including a then-unknown Damon Wayans. The season was disastrous, though, as audiences failed to connect with the new cast and NBC was constantly threatening to cancel the failing show. Most critics and viewers consider this to have been the worst season of Saturday Night Live ever and, by the end of the season, every cast member except Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller had been fired. Wayans,'s firing came about because he was frustrated when he believed producers were ignoring his ideas for sketches. His anger boiled over until, on the March 15, 1986 episode, Wayans had enough. In a sketch title "Mr. Monopoly," Wayans was scripted to play a cop interrogating a suspect when he is interrupted by Mr. Monopoly coming to bail the suspect out. Wayans improvised his character and played him as flamboyant and gay, angering Michaels, who promptly fired Wayans.