SNL's F-Bomb Coulda Been Staged

With the Jenny-Slate-says-f---ing-on-live-TV clip going viral and making Saturday Night Live nearly relevant again, E! has to wonder—was it staged? It unrolls its best guess at what happened:

• Sarah Palin bows out of politics, which means no more Tina Fey on SNL.
• Lorne Michaels realizes he'll have to wait until next season to mock Sarah Palin’s 2012 presidential bid; enter desperation.

• Michaels decides the naked-Megan-Fox jokes just aren’t enough to make the premiere buzzworthy; enter newbie Slate.
• Conveniently enough, Slate drops the F-bomb at around 12:43am—outside FCC jurisdiction.
• Cue viral video, Parents Television Council complaint, and Michaels’ apologetic quotes.
• Then again, Michaels usually takes FCC guidelines seriously—so it could have been the mistake everyone says it was.