Sharon Stone Says Her Life Was Saved By SNL Boss Protecting Her From Protestors
Sharon Stone recently talked with fellow Hollywood hams Dana Carvey and David Spade on their popular Apple podcast, Fly on the Wall, recalling when her SNL monologue incited a riot. Stone credited longtime showrunner Lorne Michaels for single-handedly saving her life.
Sharon Stone On SNL
Following the release of her movie Basic Instinct, Sharon Stone was to do a monologue parodying her character in the movie. It was 1992 (dead center in the middle of the AIDS crisis), and tensions were high. There was currently a huge uproar regarding the film.
As Sharon Stone began her monologue, protestors stormed the stage yelling, “Fight AIDS, not women!” Stone explained in her interview that all of the guards and guys whose job was protection just froze (likely confused as to whether or not it was real).
Lorne Michaels Yelled For Security
She said Lorne Michaels yelled at security saying, “What are you guys doing, watching the f***ing show?” before, “Lorne was in there physically trying to contain them himself.” According to Sharon Stone, he was “beating up and pulling these people back from the stage.”
Through all of the commotion, the SNL stage manager directed Stone to pause for about five seconds and then continue her act. She did, and all the while, people were being beaten up and arrested at her feet. Ultimately, six people were arrested for the incident.
Sharon Stone Blacked Out In Terror?
Throughout the rest of the show, various people in the crew were running through the audience for costume changes.
All of the movement (however benign) in the crowd was unsettling. Sharon Stone told Carvey and Spade that “for most of the show, [she] was completely blacked out in terror.”
If you want to see the footage from the incident, you’ll be on the hunt for a while. SNL’s official YouTube page does have the monologue available for viewing, but they used the dress rehearsal footage instead of the live footage. The live footage was “audibly interrupted” by the protestors.
Protestors Against Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone explained for context during her interview that the protestors that day were in an uproar due to her recent work “as an AIDS field worker and as an AIDS activist.”
She went on to say, “They didn’t understand, nobody understood at that time, what was really happening, and they didn’t know if AmFAR could be trusted.”
AmFAR (Foundation for AIDS Research) began in 1985, shortly after the AIDS pandemic began. The foundation’s aim has always been to find a cure and to assist those who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
Took A Career Hit
However, in the early 1990s, no one trusted that AmFAR would legitimately help anything or anyone. Sharon Stone had just been named the new National Chairman of AmFAR when the protest occurred.
The popular actress knew that accepting the role would throw a wrench in her career, but the cause was more important.
Sharon Stone stayed with AmFAR for 25 years until AIDS remedies were regularly advertised on television, just like other medicines like Tylenol and Aspirin.
Didn’t Work After Basic Instinct
Joining the organization ultimately hurt Sharon Stone’s career, and she didn’t work at the same level for more than eight years after the release of Basic Instinct. During her tenure at AmFAR, her life was repeatedly threatened, but she stuck with it, rightfully so.
Antiretroviral medications were eventually developed during Sharon Stone’s tenure as Chairman. After the initial loss of more than 40 million people, today, more than 40 million people are living healthy lives with HIV, and AIDS is no longer a death sentence for those who contract it.
Source: Fly on the Wall
