Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels helping Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards avoid a life sentence in Canadian prison sounds like, well, an SNL skit. But in 1977, life really would imitate art when this exact scenario played out in Toronto. Fortunately for Richards, it worked.
Fortunately for Michaels, he didn’t have to perjure himself on the stand like he thought he might.
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Keith Richards Lands In Legal Trouble In Canada
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was at the height of his fame (and drug use) when Canadian Mounties arrested him for drug possession at the bougie Harbour Castle Hilton near the Toronto harbor. The trouble started with his partner and mother of his three children, Anita Pallenberg, whose 28 pieces of luggage made customs inspectors at the Toronto International Airport suspicious. The officers found hashish and a spoon that had traces of h*****.
The RCMP arrested Pallenberg at the airport but released her with a “promise to appear” notice. Three days later, the police arrived at the Harbour Castle Hilton with a search warrant for Pallenberg and Richards’ hotel room. Officers found an ounce of h*****, which was enough to charge the rock star with intent to distribute. Suddenly, Richards was facing the very real possibility of a life sentence in Canada.
Ahead of the criminal trial, the band began calling in favors—one of which came from Saturday Night Live creator and Toronto native Lorne Michaels.
Lorne Michaels Flies Back Home To Save The Day
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger called Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels to ask if the sketch comedy icon could serve as a character witness for Jagger in court. The Stones had just recently performed on the show’s fourth season opener, establishing a clear and recent working relationship. And with Michaels being a Toronto native who moved to the States and “made it,” he was an excellent choice to earn brownie points in the courtroom.
Although Michaels obliged Jagger’s request, it wasn’t without pause. The SNL founder worried he would have to lie under oath if the prosecution asked him if Richards used drugs. The Stones had just been in 30 Rock. Not only did Michaels know they used illegal substances. He watched them do it. In fact, he watched Richards do a bump of c****** before entering the courtroom that very day.
Fortunately, no one asked Michaels about the rock star’s drug use. Instead, they asked Michaels’ opinion about Richards’ importance in the band (Michaels said Richards was the “catalyst”) and why Michaels chose to have the Stones on the show (his response was that they’re “the number one rock and roll band in the world”). Richards walked out of court with a suspended sentence and an order to perform a concert benefiting the blind.
“Canadians would not want to put a real artist in jail,” Michaels later said, per Susan Morrison’s Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live. Luckily for everyone involved, that proved to be correct.
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