Netflix just added the 2024 biopic Saturday Night, and the film is already on the streaming service’s top 10 chart for movies. The film follows the creator of Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels, played by Gabriel LaBelle, and the original cast as they prepare for the first-ever episode of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live.
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The director, Jason Reitman, included several of the show’s original cast members, played by various actors such as Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith and Nicholas Braun. The film also depicts TV legend Milton Berle, played by J.K. Simmons.
Berle, also known as “Mr. Television,” has been accused on multiple occasions of allegedly flashing people. Apparently, there wasn’t any documentation of Berle being there on SNL‘s opening night, but former SNL cast members claim that he was known for exposing himself on numerous occasions.
In the book Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by SNL writer Alan Zweibel, the author claims that he was flashed backstage by Berle. Zweibel writes that the incident occurred while Berle made an appearance on the show in 1979. The SNL writer was apparently joking with the comedian about his penis size at the time, which prompted Berle to open up his bathrobe and lay it all out there.
Several Former SNL Cast Members Claimed Berle Flashed Them
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Reitman spoke about the Berle rumors. He said, “Milton used to pull his penis out in front of everybody.”
He continued, “I personally know multiple people that Milton’s pulled his d— out in front of. The day after our premiere, Jeff Ross calls me up and he goes, ‘Man, I love the movie. Oh yeah, Milton pulled his d— out in front of me. I didn’t get Me Too’d, I got Me 22ed. He was huge!’ And it happened to Alan Zweibel, and it happened to other people at SNL.”
Reitman even interviewed several former SNL cast members while writing the script and many confessed the same thing.
“Milton Berle represents everything that television was,” Reitman added. “He’s the ghost of television past. He is vaudeville, he is radio, he is old variety shows, he is sexual harassment, he is all of these things,”
He continued, “He will appear later on SNL and do the worst episode of all time. But for us on that night, he represents an idea, yet another barrier that these young people have to cross in order to get the show on air.”