The word "fuck" was said twice in this episode. In Prince's performance of "Party Up", he sang the lyric "Fightin' war is such a fuckin' bore" and it went unnoticed at the time. But in the closing goodnight segment, Charles Rocket clearly said "I'd like to know who the fuck did it." Rocket unsuccessfully tried to justify his actions by saying Prince said it during the second musical performance.
The awkward camera panning to the SNL band before the credits rolled was a real accident. When Charles Rocket uttered the F word on live television, the production control room was in an uproar. Knowing the show would be directly canceled, show director Dave Wilson simply threw down his headphones and said "Well, that's the end of live television." and walked out.
Larry Hagman was asked to host because the episode featured a running parody of the "Who Shot J.R.?" phenomenon spawned by Dallas (1978). Hagman refused so the show settled for his co-star Charlene Tilton.