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

SNL 50: Morgan Wallen Seemed to Know How "Goodnights" Worked in 2020

We're not sure what happened this weekend, but Morgan Wallen appeared to know how the SNL "goodnights" worked back in December 2020.

So here's a really brief history of NBC's Saturday Night Live and country music singer Morgan Wallen. During Season 46, Wallen was set to be the musical guest alongside host Bill Burr, but that changed when 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 was seen doing shots in a crowded party where social distancing and masks were not in play and also seen kissing an unmasked woman. Wallen would go on to apologize for what went down, and SNL EP Lorne Michaels would invite Wallen back as the musical guest later that same season during the December 5, 2020, show hosted by Jason Bateman.

Now, we're jumping to this weekend, with Wallen joining host Mikey Madison (Anora) for SNL's return show from a two-week break. Musically, Wallen offered strong performances of "I'm the Problem" and "Just in Case" – and overall, everything seemed pretty normal. But things got weird during the goodnight just before and while the credits were rolling. First, there was 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 real headline-grabber 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? Were there some other issues at play? TMZ – and other sites – reported that folks close to Wallen said it was all much ado about nothing. Not helping their 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 we decided to jump on Peacock and take a look back at December 2020 to see if Wallen's behavior during the goodnight and end credits was similar to what went down last night. It wasn't. After friendly greetings between Wallen and Bateman, you see Wallen turning his attention to the SNL cast – and the SNL cast reciprocates. In fact, it's your typically nice end that we usually get, with Wallen sticking around on the stage as the network cut to whatever local affiliates were running at 1 pm ET. To be clear, there was no sign indicating that Wallen exited by walking down off the front of the stage.

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