Saturday Night Live alum recalled how made life hell for the show’s cast and writers during an appearance as musical guest.
During a Wednesday, November 20 appearance on the “Las Culturistas” podcast, cohosted by SNL’s and comedian , Gasteyer, 57, said Diddy, 55, “shut down like the whole building” when he appeared on the sketch show in May 1998.
“You can tell the five a——- in the six years that I was there when they would be like, ‘So and so is in the building, everybody stay in your dressing rooms!’” Gasteyer recalled on the episode. “Which is applicable if you’re a presidential candidate. But apart from that, really it’s my house.”
Gasteyer — who appeared on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002 — alleged Diddy required “a totally closed set.”
Diddy performed “Come With Me” on the episode, which sampled Led Zeppelin’s legendary song “Kashmir.” The rapper was joined by Zeppelin guitarist and a 40-piece orchestra for the bombastic performance.
The demand did not sit well with some of the show’s performers and staff members, so they found a humorous way to push back.
According to Gasteyer, it was suggested during a writers’ room meeting that cast member — who was dressed in costume as “Ron,” a character who appeared in a couple of “Mango” sketches alongside cast member — break into the “sealed set.”
“They were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be so funny if Ron just went in?’ And he did,” Gasteyer claimed. “He went on down the stairs and he marched right in.”
Gasteyer boasted she even still has the alleged video “from the control room where Sean Combs is rapping [during rehearsal] and Ron is walking around looking really disoriented.”
Calling it “the greatest thing that’s ever happened,” Gasteyer claimed Diddy did not take kindly to his rehearsal time being crashed.
“He did not roll with it,” Gasteyer said. “He was very uncomfortable.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Diddy’s representatives about Gasteyer’s claims.
Ferrell, 57 — who appeared on Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2002 — has previously backed up Gasteyer’s story.
“Someone said, ‘Ron should go up onstage,’” Ferrell told Vulture in 2020, “and before everyone turned to see, I had sprinted out the door.”
Ultimately, Gasteyer argued that Diddy’s desire to call all his own shots inside 30 Rock was indicative of Diddy’s “artifice of that faux importance.”
“Like, what’s gonna happen?” she questioned. “You’re gonna walk into the studio and you’re gonna be, like, ‘I’m in the studio. I work here.’”
