All press is good press, right?
Of course, the walk out seen around the world has become national news, and of course I’m referring to Morgan Wallen’s abrupt exit from Saturday Night Live after an appearance timed to promote his upcoming album, I’m The Problem, as well as the corresponding tour, this past weekend. But the ultra-viral clip is from the end of the show, when it appeared that the country star was making a beeline to get the heck out of Studio 8H, when most guests stand around and chat with the cast until the credits are completely over.
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
Shortly after walking off set, it seemed like Morgan really was ready to leave and catch a private plane back to Tennessee, sharing a rare non-promotional Instagram story saying:
“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
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.”
Honestly, I did think it was a bit odd for him to exit that way when no other guest really has and he’s been on the show before, so he knows how it works, but also can’t blame him for wanting to get out of there. Even in the show teasers, fans were quick to point out that Morgan looked like he wasn’t all that thrilled about being there, and he has a checkered past with the show to say the least, so maybe he didn’t want to do it… but it’s hard to pass up press like that, I guess? He definitely doesn’t need SNL, so he could’ve just said no, but I digress…
There have been countless stories and theories about what happened, and even if Morgan wasn’t happy with the cast or being in New York City in general, he definitely took the chance to capitalize on the viral moment, launching merch with the “God’s Country” reference on it.
And even if this wasn’t a well thought-out publicity stunt, it’s certainly helping Morgan get his music to the top of the charts as he’s currently filling out over half of the top 10 on Apple music, with all six of the pre-released songs topping the country songs chart right now:
He also has six of the songs in the top 11 of the Apple music all-genres chart:
Regardless of what you think of his abrupt exit, and whether he meant anything by it or not, it’s clearly not hurting him when it comes to the music and business of it all. Morgan’s I’m The Problem album is due out everywhere on May 16th, and it’s already off to a hot start and you’ll likely see the rest of the songs in the top spots once the record is released.
Here’s “Just In Case,” where he reveals some of the titles from the tracklist of the album:
