Sounds like Kenan wasn’t a fan of whatever message Morgan was trying to send…
Morgan Wallen was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live over the weekend, an appearance timed to promote his upcoming album, I’m The Problem, and corresponding tour.
But after the show, all anybody was talking about was how Morgan didn’t really seem to want to be there…
During SNL’s signature end of show sendoff – where the cast, host and musical guest all say goodbye to the audience and hug and chat – the country music singer gave his pleasantries to host Mikey Madison (who won the 2025 Oscar for “Best Actress” for her performance in Anora) and then Wallen walked right off the stage.
Thank you, Mikey Madison and @MorganWallen! Goodnight! pic.twitter.com/FDlInhhHqb
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 30, 2025
It looked like Morgan Wallen wait to get out of New York City, and his Instagram story that he posted shortly after his early exit seemingly confirmed that:
“Get Me Back To God’s Country.”
Morgan Wallen on Instagram Stories after his #SNL performances pic.twitter.com/S89xjcgIqs
— Saturday Night Network (@thesnlnetwork) March 30, 2025
While the internet blew up at Wallen seemingly snubbing the show, TMZ spoke to a source close to Wallen about the incident, who said that Morgan meant nothing by his exit and he “entered and exited” the studio the same way he did in rehearsal and camera blocking all week:
“We’re told he entered and exited the studio the same way he did Saturday night during rehearsal and camera blocking all week leading up to the live show… so he routinely headed that way when he thought it was time to go.”
No harm, no foul, right?
Well during the awkward exit, screenshots went viral of the cast reacting to Morgan peacing out, including one showing a side-eye from Kenan Thompson and Ego Nwodim:
Ego Nwodim and Kenan Thompson watching that Morgan Wallen walkoff at the end of the show. #SNL50 pic.twitter.com/M6W0DrCV7h
— Karen DaltonBeninato (@kbeninato) March 30, 2025
And during an appearance on Good Day New York today, Thompson was asked about the viral moment and his reaction:
“Aren’t we all in God’s country? I don’t know if he understood the assignment, is what that looks like. Ego’s the one giving the side-eye.”
But when asked about what really happened, Thompson played it coy and dismissed the story while suggesting that the attention should be on the performance from host Mikey Madison:
“I have no idea. I’ve been reading as much as you’ve been reading, so apparently he didn’t know to stay or something like that? Whatever, it doesn’t matter, it was a great show. Mikey did great, you know, and she’s having such an incredible run with her career right now, so celebrate that I guess.”
Kenan seemed to not want to really discuss the moment, but you got the sense that he wasn’t a fan of Morgan’s abrupt exit. And during an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he confirmed that the singer rubbed him the wrong way with whatever statement he was trying to make – not only with his exit, but with his Instagram post:
“I don’t know what goes through people’s minds when they decide to do stuff like that. I don’t know if he understood the assignment or not, or if he was really feeling a certain kind of way…
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?
Seems like a complicated individual, I guess.”
Thompson noted that Morgan isn’t the first musical guest to leave the show abruptly, recalling the legendary singer Prince doing the same thing before quickly clarifying that he wasn’t comparing Morgan Wallen to Prince:
“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.”
And it sounds like the Instagram post was what bothered Kenan the most:
“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? We’re not all in God’s country? We’re not all under God’s umbrella? That’s not necessarily my favorite.”
Kenan admitted that he didn’t meet Wallen, either this weekend or when he performed on the show back in 2020. But from his comments, it seems pretty clear that the singer rubbed him the wrong way.
