Secret Service Had ‘Locked Up’ Rage Against The Machine

During his appearance on the new documentary “Ladies & Gentleman… 50 Years of SNL Music,” Tom Morello revealed that he and his Rage Against the Machine bandmates were locked inside their dressing room by the US Secret Service after their 1996 performance on “Saturday Night Live” – which was hosted by then-Presidential candidate Steve Forbes. 

This was their first and last performance on the show, as afterwards they were essentially banned. Controversy began when RATM originally planned on performing with upside-down American flags displayed on their amps in protest of Forbes, but they were removed by the SNL crew before they took the stage.

After performing their first of two tracks, RATM were informed that the second was being cut for time. This led to their bassist Tim Commerford lashing out at Forbes.

Recalling the incident, Morello said:

“Our dressing room is right across the hall from Steve Forbes. Time goes by. A representative of SNL comes to the door and says, ‘Looks like the show’s running a little long, and we’re gonna cut your second number’. And then they leave us alone. That was their mistake. Timmy doesn’t like things like that. And he expresses himself. So, what he did was he took one of the American flags and he tore it up and he knotted it into a ball. You might call it a weapon. And he entered Steve Forbes’ dressing room across the way to attack him.

“Steve Forbes was not in his dressing room, but his family was. So Timmy launches his American flag ball rocket at aunts, cousins, wives, children. Fortunately, the kind of solid integrity of it is not so great. So… it flaps apart, hurting no one. Did I mention before that Steve Forbes had just been a presidential candidate? The hallway floods with Secret Service. We’re now locked in our room. They’re protecting Steve Forbes and his family.

“We get escorted out and put on the sidewalk at 30 Rock. You might notice Rage is not in the farewells on that particular show. I still went to the after party.”