Justin Timberlake says Beyoncé was ‘very hesitant’ to do “SNL” ‘Single Ladies’ sketch: ‘She was not having it’
The NSYNC vocalist recalls putting on a leotard and heels to help convince Queen Bey to take a chance on it.
Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Beyoncé nearly didn’t let Saturday Night Live put a ring on the legendary “Single Ladies” sketch.
“She was very polite about it, but she was very hesitant, and when I say hesitant, I mean, like, she was not having it,” Justin Timberlake said of the Grammy winner’s initial reaction to the pitch in the documentary Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, which NBC re-aired on Saturday.
The SNL Five-Timers Club member said it all started when he got a text message from cast member Andy Samberg, with whom he’d previously made “Dick in a Box,” telling him the idea behind a comedic recreation of Beyoncé’s classic black-and-white music video for her 2008 pop hit “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
“He said, ‘Bobby Moynihan has this great idea for a sketch about you, me, and him being Beyoncé’s background dancers for ‘Single Ladies’ that never made the cut,” Timberlake recalled, saying the Lonely Island member then informed him Queen Bey was going to be the week’s musical guest.
“I was like, ‘Full leotard?’ and he’s like, ‘Yeah.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, this is too funny. Like, we have to do this.'”
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Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé in 2008
The NSYNC vocalist popped over to Studio 8H for the Nov. 15, 2008, episode hosted by Paul Rudd to try to help convince his “Until the End of Time” collaborator of the gold they had at their fingertips.
“I’m like, does she know how funny this is gonna be? How beloved this whole moment will be?” Timberlake remembered. “So I said, ‘Bring me the leotard.'”
The “Cry Me a River” crooner recalled putting on the black leotard, pantyhose, and high heels with a robe covering the ensemble and heading to Beyoncé’s dressing room. “I knocked on her door. I walked in, and I threw the robe down, and I put my hands on my hips.”
According to Timberlake, his move worked on the Cowboy Carter superstar. “She was like, ‘No, you didn’t,'” he said of her laughing at his getup.
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Justin Timberlake, Bobby Moynihan, Beyoncé, and Andy Samberg on ‘SNL’
In the end, it all turned out to be worth it, as the “Single Ladies” parody — featuring Rudd as a music video director introducing the singer to her backup dancers, played by Timberlake, Samberg, and Moynihan clad in leotards and heels as they do the choreography — became an instant classic.
Even former President Barack Obama boasted about doing the moves from the SNL video. “I’m not like Justin — I didn’t put on the outfit,” Obama told Beyoncé backstage at his 2009 inauguration. “I didn’t want my girls thinking that I couldn’t, y’know — I got a little something.”
For her second musical performance during the season 34 episode, Beyoncé did her own knockout rendition of the song and iconic dance. This time, alongside her actual backup dancers.
Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, co-directed by Questlove and Oz Rodriguez, is streaming now on Peacock.
