If you’ve been online over the past 24 hours or so, I don’t doubt you’ll have seen a lot of conversation over Morgan Wallen’s abrupt exit from Saturday Night Live.
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For context, Best Actress Oscar-winner Mikey Madison made her hosting debut this weekend, and Morgan was her musical guest. If you’ve watched SNL before, you’ll know that at the end of the show, after the celeb host has said their thankyous and goodbyes, the cast, host, and musical guest typically mingle on the stage as the credits roll, sharing hugs and congratulating each other on another successful show.
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However, Morgan did not involve himself in the traditional farewells with his peers. Instead, he said a few brief words to Mikey, gave her a half-hug sort of thing, and walked right off the stage without acknowledging any of the cast members behind him. (Watch below and give me your thoughts…)
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And if that wasn’t intriguing enough, he later posted an Instagram Story of himself seemingly about to board a private plane with the caption, “Get me to God’s country.”
The whole thing gave the impression that Morgan couldn’t wait to get out of Studio 8H and back to “God’s country” (whatever that means), sparking speculation of behind-the-scenes tensions between himself and the cast.
It’s also probably worth noting that there was some public pushback over Morgan being invited to perform on the show in the first place due to his past controversies (which include his use of the n-word and, more recently, being arrested for disorderly conduct), so some wondered if this may have played a part in his apparent eagerness to leave the set.
But, despite all the speculation that something was awry, a source subsequently told Variety that the singer had a great time and didn’t mean to offend anyone. After viewers noticed that numerous cast members on stage looked a little confused by his exit, the insider also claimed that Morgan’s stage departure happened exactly as it had in rehearsal and camera blocking.
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At the time of writing, conversations about Morgan’s SNL appearance are still gaining a lot of attention online — so much so that even those who work on the show are getting in on the jokes. On Sunday, SNL writer Josh Patten, who’s worked on the show since 2012, posted a photograph of an open Krispy Kreme donut truck on the street in NYC and captioned it: “get me to God’s Country,” mocking Morgan’s private plane post.
Notably, it didn’t take long for people to pick up on Josh’s post, prompting the comedy writer to shut down speculation that he doesn’t like Morgan. Sharing a screenshot of a report that read, “Guessing Patten’s not a Morgan Wallen fan?,” Josh responded with an eye-rolling emoji and followed up with a screenshot of his most played Apple Music songs of 2023, which, you guessed it, featured a ton of the country singer’s tracks.
As it stands, Morgan has not commented on his SNL exit, nor has he clarified the meaning of his post about getting himself back to “God’s country.” We’ve reached out to his reps, and we’ll be sure to let you know if we hear anything.
