Kenan Thompson told Entertainment Weekly that he “definitely saw it” when Morgan Wallen walked off the “SNL” stage during the end of the show when the host and musical guest typically stay to hug the show’s cast as the end credits play on screen. Wallen performed two songs on “SNL’s” March 29 episode, hosted by Mikey Madison.
“I don’t know what goes through people’s minds when they decide to do stuff like that,” Thompson told EW in reaction to Wallen walking off. “I don’t know if he understood the assignment or not, or if he was really feeling a certain kind of way.”
Wallen’s “SNL” walk-off went viral and prompted speculation on social media about whether or not the country music star had a good experience at “SNL” or not. The singer then posted a photo to his Instagram story of a private jet with a caption that read: “Get me to God’s country.” The post only fueled rumors of Wallen allegedly hating “SNL.”
“You see somebody before you get a chance to say hi or say good job or anything like that, they just dipping,” Thompson said. “I thought maybe he had to go to the potty or something… It’s definitely a spike in the norm. 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?”
Sources in Wallen’s camp told Variety the day after the episode filmed that Wallen had no tension with “SNL” and stressed the singer had a good time and no slight was intended with either his prompt exit or his Instagram post. A guest in attendance at the “SNL” dress rehearsal taping confirmed that Wallen walked off the stage in similar fashion to what happened during the live taping.
“Seems like a complicated individual, I guess,” Thompson added to EW about Wallen. “Prince did the same thing [in terms of walking off the stage]. I’m not saying Morgan Wallen is Prince, but we weren’t surprised because Prince was notoriously kind of standoffish. It’s just how he was. So we just thought like, ‘Okay, now he’s gone back into fantasyland.’ But Saturday I guess it was just different because it just felt so abrupt. And it was already such a small grouping on the stage anyway. So it was just like, oh wow, that was pretty visible. You know what I’m saying? It was a pretty visible thing.”
“The ‘God’s country’ of it all is strange because it’s like, what are you trying to say?” Thompson added. “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. But whatever. Moving on, we got a new show. We got Jack Black this week.”
Jack Black, who is making the press rounds in support of “A Minecraft Movie,” is hosting the April 5 episode of “SNL” with musical guests Elton John and Brandi Carlile. Jon Ham and Lizzo will be the host and musical guest for the April 12 episode.
