Television

In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act, which reduced Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations on cross-ownership so that major corporations could buy up smaller media outlets nationwide. This deregulation had far-reaching results, and 20 years later, 90% of the country’s major media companies were owned by just six corporations.

The consolidation of power over the country’s media into the hands of a few corporations rightfully disturbed many Americans who were worried a few powerful interests could shape the national narrative. “Saturday Night Live” writer Robert Smigel, who created the show’s “TV Funhouse” segment, best known for animated sketches featuring the “Ambiguously Gay Duo” and “The New Adventures of Mr. T,” took dead aim at the corporate media in a 1998 episode with a 2-minute “Schoolhouse Rock” parody called “Conspiracy Theory Rock.”

“Conspiracy Theory Rock” was a brave SNL piece because it didn’t hold back when discussing General Electric, NBC’s parent company. The sketch accuses GE of media manipulation, corporate welfare, influencing the FCC, manufacturing nuclear weapons, and producing cancer-causing pollution.

The controversial cartoon was reviewed by NBC corporate before hitting the air. “It did go through an extensive note process, beyond the Standards dept, and up the executive ladder,” Smigel recalled in an Instagram post. “I remember adding the ‘voices in my head’ line per their request to make the narrator seem crazier, not that it made a big difference.” But after a few minor notes, the network aired the sketch on the March 14 episode featuring host Julianne Moore and Backstreet Boys.

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Did ‘Saturday Night Live’ ban ‘Conspiracy Theory Rock’?

Over the past 26 years, “Conspiracy Theory Rock” has earned the reputation of being a “banned” sketch, but that may be a bit of a conspiracy in and of itself. Was it cut from subsequent airings because it was controversial or because it simply wasn’t funny? SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels claims the cartoon was cut from reruns because it merely “wasn’t funny,” so they ran the second Backstreet Boys performance instead. It’s worth noting that when SNL episodes are rerun, they are often only an hour long (including commercials) instead of the usual 90-minute runtime.

However, Smigel's recollection breathes a bit of life into the controversy.

“Months passed, and all was calm until Adam McKay approached me,” Smigel recalled. “A pissed-off crew member had let Adam know the sketch was being cut from the rerun, replaced by a second Backstreet Boys song, which had no mentions of GE polluting the environment. I wasn't especially surprised, but Adam was fired up. He leaked the story to a few TV journalists who'd written about the cartoons. NBC claimed it wasn’t funny (not that it was), and that's why people know and still talk about it today.”

The sketch would be included in the 2006 “Best of TV Funhouse” DVD, so Smigel believes it has only been “kinda banned.” However, the cartoon does not appear in the rerun of the March 14, 1998 episode currently streaming on Peacock. The Backstreet Boys performance is also not included due to music rights issues.

Ultimately, it’s hard to know whether the cartoon was banned or dropped from broadcasts due to its lack of humor. But we know that Smigel was brave in pointing out the problems posed by corporate media control. His willingness to criticize those in power reminds us how rare it is to see satire that questions the very system airing it. Twenty-six years later, it still makes the rounds online because the problems he pointed out are still with us today.