Posted in: NBC, Opinion, Peacock, TV, TV | Tagged: morgan wallen, opinion, saturday night live, snl

Did SNL Have a Problem Last Night? Was Morgan Wallen The Reason?

If you thought the way Morgan Wallen exited SNL was kinda weird, you're not alone. And Wallen's follow-up post on social media didn't help...

It's not like NBC's Saturday Night Live and country music singer Morgan Wallen don't already have a past, so many a brief history lesson is in order. During Season 46, Wallen was set to be the musical guest alongside host Bill Burr for the October 10, 2020, show. That changed in a very big way. Only days before Wallen was supposed to take the Studio 8H stage, it was announced that Wallen wouldn't be appearing. The news came after a TikTok video of the country music artist at a house party minus a mask began circulating on social media, disregarding COVID precautions and regulations. In the video, Wallen is seen doing shots in a crowded party where social distancing and masks were not in play and also seen kissing an unmasked woman.

Wallen was contacted by the show and informed that he was being cut from the show "because of COVID protocols," but he said in his Instagram post that SNL creator Lorne Michaels told him his appearance would be rescheduled for another time. "It's a tough video for me to make but a necessary one," Wallen posted. "My actions this past weekend were shortsighted, and they have obviously affected my longterm goals and my dreams. I respect the show's decision because I know that I put them in jeopardy, and I take ownership for this. I'd like to apologize to SNL, to my fans, to my team for bringing me these opportunities, and I let them down… I think I have growing up to do." True to his word, Michaels would invite Wallen back as the musical guest later that same season, during the December 5th show hosted by Jason Bateman.

Okay, everybody up to speed? Cool. That brings us to this weekend's SNL, with Wallen returning as musical guest alongside host Mikey Madison (Anora). Musically, Wallen offered strong performances of "I'm the Problem" and "Just in Case" – and overall, everything seemed pretty normal. But then we got to the wrap-up at the end of the show, when the host, musical guest, SNL cast, and guest stars usually come out for some final words, a few bows, and a lot of love while the credits rolled. But last night's felt… different. Here's a look at what went down:

The entire thing vibed weird – and we're talking in-the-moment weird and not Monday-morning-quarterbacking weird. There was that distance between Madison and Wallen and the rest of the cast. Then, you had Wallen say a few words to Madison – without ever turning his attention to the SNL cast behind him. But the icing of the really f***ing weird cake was how Wallen exited – from the front of the stage and walking towards the camera. It was an odd way for something as simple as a "goodnight" to go down, vibing as if Wallen either suddenly got lost or was looking to get away from SNL sooner rather than later.

Did Wallen have issues with the SNL cast and writers? If the country singer is a Trump supporter, maybe he didn't like the cold open or what "Weekend Update" had to offer because they went after Trump and his lackeys hard. Were there some other issues at play? It will be interesting to see what comes out over the next 24-48 hours. TMZ is reporting from folks close to Wallen that it's all much ado about nothing – but anything from TMZ that doesn't involve a celebrity arrest and/or death gets a ton of question marks from us. Not helping the argument was Wallen's Instagram Stories post shortly after he exited stage right: "Get me to God's country," along with an image of a private jet. So now, we not only need to know if Wallen had issues with SNL but also which parts of the U.S. he considers to be "god's country."

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