Many “Saturday Night Live” viewers were taken aback by musical guest Morgan Wallen’s abrupt exit at the end of the Saturday, March 29 show — and cast member Kenan Thompson also thought it was strange.
“I don’t know what goes through people’s minds when they decide to do stuff like that. I don’t know if he understood the assignment or not, or if he was really feeling a certain kind of way,” Thompson said during a Monday, March 31, interview with Entertainment Weekly.
The actor — who has been on “SNL” since 2003 and is the longest-tenured cast member — joked that he thought Wallen “had to go to the potty or something.”
It’s customary for hosts and musical guests to remain onstage to mingle with “SNL” cast members as the credits roll, but Wallen hightailed it through the audience and out of sight after exchanging a quick hug with host Mikey Madison.
“We’re so used to everybody just turning around and high-fiving us, everybody’s saying, ‘Good job, good job, good job.’ So when there’s a departure from that, it’s like, ‘Hmm, I wonder what that’s about?‘” Thompson explained.
Some “SNL” viewers speculated that Wallen was eager to get off the stage due to bad blood with the cast, but Thompson said he “never met” the singer, either on Saturday or when he was the musical guest back in December 2020. Wallen was also pulled from an October 2020 episode after he was caught breaking “SNL” COVID-19 protocols while partying,
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According to a Variety article published on Sunday, March 30, sources close to Wallen camp said the musician enjoyed his time on “SNL” and didn’t mean for his exit to offend anyone. However, Wallen further fueled speculation that he felt uncomfortable on the show with an Instagram Story he posted directly after.
“Get me to God’s country,” he captioned a photo of a plane on a tarmac.
Morgan Wallen (left) and Mikey Madison (right) moments before Wallen walked off the “SNL” stage.Will Heath/NBC
Thompson admitted that the Instagram Story was a “strange” choice.
“It’s like, ‘What are you trying to say? You trying to say that we are not in God’s country? We’re not all in God’s country? We’re not all under God’s umbrella?’ That’s not necessarily my favorite,” he told EW. ”But whatever. Moving on, we got a new show. We got Jack Black this week.”
Black is set to host the Saturday, April 5, episode of “SNL” with musical guests Elton John and Brandi Carlile.
“Saturday Night Live” airs on NBC and Peacock on Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. EST. Episodes are available to stream on Peacock the next day.
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