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SNL Is Paying People $150 To Watch Their Show In Person
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 6, 2020
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 6, 2020
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When Saturday Night Live announced that the show would be returning for new episodes at 30 Rock again, they also announced that they would have limited live audiences along with it. But it quickly became clear that it was not technically legal for them to do so under the state guidelines for media production during the pandemic. Nevertheless, there were audience members there for this weekend's season premiere—so how did they get around the rules? They paid people to be there.
According to the state guidelines, which were last updated in June, "Responsible Parties must prohibit live audiences unless they consist only of paid employees, cast, and crew. Employees, cast and crew may make up a live audience of no more than 100 individuals, or 25% the audience capacity, whichever is lower. Live audiences must maintain social distance of at least six feet in all directions."
SNL had been offering tickets to audiences via third party website 1iota (that page is currently down), with anyone allowed to request free passes to the live show or dress rehearsal (they put some tickets aside for health care workers in particular). And they embraced a loophole in the rules by paying everyone who was there. Audience member Sean Ludwig revealed on Twitter that he and other audience members at the premiere were each given checks for $150 at the end of the show.
Ludwig told Democrat & Chronicle that the audience was not informed beforehand that they would be handed checks as they left the theater.
Usually SNL can fit around 300 people into the audience, which means they were only allowed to have about 75 people there this weekend—this means the show likely spent at least $10,000 to have people there in person.
During his monologue, Chris Rock acknowledged the live audience there: "This show is quite different than every other show, there's so many protocols, everybody in this audience has been checked," he said. "The audience, this floor right here, are first responders...they're so good we let people die tonight so they could see a good show."
Audience members were given rapid COVID tests, were wearing masks, and they had to give information for possible contact tracing use. But it's worth noting that the audience both on the floor and up above, as you can see during the monologue, was not socially distanced—the state rules indicate there are no exceptions for social distancing guidelines, even if the individuals are part of "pods" who know each other beforehand, unless the functions during media production require it. It does not seem like sitting in an audience would qualify as a necessary function.
Jonah Bruno, a spokesperson for the Health Department, told Gothamist that the state has found no evidence of "non-compliance." He said in a statement, "SNL has confirmed that they followed the reopening guidance, including selecting audience members through a third-party screening and casting process and compensating them for their time as paid audience members. There is no evidence of non-compliance—but if any is discovered, we will refer that to local authorities for follow up."
When asked again about whether the Health Department considers SNL to be compliant if people are not social distancing indoors, as was seen during the broadcast, Bruno reiterated that there was "no evidence of non-compliance."
Gothamist has reached out to NBC for comment as well, and will update if we hear back.
The state has enacted strict guidelines for live audiences for every type of venue, including restaurants, bars and concert halls where ticketed live music has been banned entirely.
Comedian Bill Burr will make his hosting debut this weekend with musical guest Morgan Wallen, who was spotted partying without a mask and making out with strangers last week.
Tagged
social distancing
COVID-19
pandemic
coronavirus
comedy
saturday night live
snl
television
tv
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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