SNL Digital Short Nixed Due to Music Clearance Snafu

• Oct 2, 2007 03:12 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Andy Samberg's latest (if a bit protracted...) Saturday Night Live digital-short gem, a ballad directed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been pulled from NBC.com, the Peacock's official YouTube channel and other sites where it had surfaced, reportedly because it did not clear a musical sample from the group Aphex Twin, says NewTeeVee.com. The clip featured Samberg, with an assist from Maroon 5's Adam Levine, serenading Fred Armisen's (sometimes dress-wearing) dead ringer for the Iranian official.