Justin Timberlake is recalling the time he had to convince Beyoncé to collaborate on the iconic 2008 “Single Ladies” sketch for Saturday Night Live.
“She was very polite about it, but she was very hesitant, and when I say hesitant, I mean like, she was not having it,” Timberlake, 44, said of Beyoncé’s reaction in the documentary Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, which premiered in January and re-aired on Saturday, February 15 ahead of the show’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Timberlake explained that the sketch originated when he got a text message from cast member Andy Samberg about the parody of Beyoncé’s hit track, “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 said of Samberg’s text. “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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After learning of the sketch, Timberlake attempted to convince Beyoncé, 43, of the sketch that would appear in the November 2008 episode hosted by Paul Rudd.
“I’m like, does she know how funny this is gonna be? How beloved this whole moment will be?” Timberlake said. “So I said, ‘Bring me the leotard.’”
Timberlake recalled putting on the black leotard, tights and high heels with a robe on top and walking into 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,” Timberlake said. “She was like, ‘No, you didn’t.’”
Timberlake, Sandberg, 46, and Moynihan, 48, ultimately appeared in the sketch alongside Beyoncé and Rudd, who played the singer’s video director. In the clip, Beyoncé appeared nervous about the fact that she hadn’t met the dancers who were set to appear in her music video.
“Oh look, don’t worry about the other dancers, B-Town. I hand-picked them myself, these guys are pros,” Rudd, 55, said to Beyoncé, who replied, “These guys?”
At that moment, Timberlake, Sandberg and Moynihan all appeared and reassured Beyoncé that they were warmed up. As the group of dancers began performing the iconic dance moves, the video turned to black-and-white and Beyoncé stopped the production because she thought “something just doesn’t feel quite right.”
“I’m just a little bit confused, because this song is called ‘Single Ladies’ so I imagined the dancers would be strong, beautiful women,” Beyoncé explained to Rudd.
While Beyoncé ultimately did not let the trio of dancers into her music video, the group ended the sketch by dancing to her iconic tune.
Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music is available to stream now on Peacock.
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