Morgan Wallen Brings Dumbest ‘SNL’ Controversy to Inevitable Conclusion
Saturday Night Live has had its share of actual musical-guest scandals over the years. Kanye went on a MAGA rant during the goodbyes. Sinead O’Connor tore up a picture of the Pope. Ashlee Simpson sheepishly walked off during a live performance thanks to a miscued lip-sync track. Fear and Rage Against the Machine trashed Studio 8H. But those controversies pale — or so it seems — to Morgan Wallen walking off the SNL set in the wrong direction.
Wallen’s awkward SNL exit is the story that refuses to die. In case you missed it, he stood on stage with host Mikey Madison while she said good night to the crowd, exchanged pleasantries with the host while they embraced, then wandered off into the audience rather than hugging Mikey Day while the credits rolled. On another night when SNL was running long, we might never have seen Wallen’s exit as the show would have simply gone to black.
Just a reminder, folks — the show was over. Wallen didn’t hightail it out of there mid-sketch.
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But for some, the sin was unforgivable. “For you not to stay on stage for the goodnights,” said Saturday Night Network’s Jon Schneider, “you should never be allowed back at Saturday Night Live again.”
Wallen didn’t help matters, posting a picture of a plane on his Instagram Stories with the caption, “Get me to God’s country.” While Wallen might have been expressing an innocuous desire to get back home to Nashville after a long week, plenty of fans took it as a message that he’d had enough of SNL’s big-city BS.
Kenan Thompson took offense. “The ‘God’s country’ of it all is strange because it's like, what are you trying to say? You trying to say that we are not in God's country?” he told Entertainment Weekly. “We’re not all under God’s umbrella? That’s not necessarily my favorite.”
At the same time, Thompson admitted other musical guests, like Prince, have skipped the high-fives at show’s end. Did Wallen have bad blood with the comics or was there a simpler explanation? “Maybe he had to go to the potty or something,” Thompson wondered.
Whatever you think about how Wallen exited the stage (are we really breaking this down?), it doesn’t sound like he was super-into his SNL experience. He reportedly turned down a 10-second bit in a sketch that went to Joe Jonas. But he was fine during his two musical numbers, assuming you like Morgan Wallen music. He delivered as advertised.
Will this thing finally go away? Not quite yet because you never waste a good controversy when there’s merch money to be made. Striking while the iron is hot, Wallen introduced exclusive “Get me to God’s country” gear in the official Morgan Wallen shop yesterday. Want a hat that says, “I need to leave Manhattan now”? That will be $45, please. Looking for a T-shirt to show your disdain for Sarah Sherman? $45 and it’s yours.
It’s a cynical cash grab to end a dumb, dumb story. Elton John and Brandi Carlile are the musical guests this weekend — let’s hope they set a piano on fire so we can put this Wallen thing in the rear-view mirror.
