‘SNL’ mock Morgan Wallen following his abrupt walk-off from the show

Saturday Night Live (SNL) have mocked Morgan Wallen after his abrupt walk-off from the show last week.

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Last Saturday (March 29), the country singer appeared on the show’s as the musical guest, and made headlines when he abruptly and awkwardly cut his goodbyes short by walking off stage after only saying farewell to the guest host, Oscar-winning actress Mikey Madison.

Typically, the SNL cast celebrates with the guest musician and host as the credits roll, but Wallen was quick to leave. Then, shortly after his exit, he posted an Instagram Story of a picture of his private jet and a caption that read: “Get me to God’s country”, as he headed back to his home of Tennessee.

Now, SNL have responded, mocking Wallen’s abrupt walk-off not once, but twice during last night’s (April 5) show. The first joke came in the show’s cold open, where James Austin Johnson, who was playing President Donald Trump, referenced Wallen’s “God’s country” social media comment.

“I even put tariffs on an island uninhabited by humans. It’s called Heard and McDonald Island,” Johnson said. “McDonald Island. I would love to visit there. Can you imagine that? Big Mac and a hula skirt. Get me to God’s country, right? Remember that?”

Then, later in the show, during Colin Jost’s Weekend Update segment, the comedian said: “This was the worst week for the stock market since the summer of 2020. But you have to remember, back then the president was also Trump. Just in the past two days, investors have lost over $6 trillion. Money is leaving the stock market faster than Morgan Wallen at goodnight.”

Earlier this week, longtime SNL cast member Kenan Thompson commented on Wallen’s sudden exit: “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”. He joked that he “thought maybe he had to go to the potty or something.”

Thompson confirmed he “definitely saw” Wallen suddenly leave, adding: “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?”

Wallen himself has poked fun at his cryptic post and has turned the quote into merchandise.

Since January, Wallen has been teasing and releasing tracks from his upcoming album ‘I’m The Problem’, due for release on May 16. The name appears to reference some of his public scandals in recent years.

Last April, it was reported the singer had been charged with three counts of reckless endangerment and one count of disorderly conduct after throwing a chair off a rooftop bar in Tennessee. In December, he pled guilty to two misdemeanours for reckless endangerment without a weapon and was ordered to spend a week in a DUI education center and to serve a suspended sentence of two years of supervised probation.

Earlier this week Wallen said he hasn’t visited a bar in over a year since the incident.

In 2021, footage of him using a racial slur surfaced online, causing him to be dropped by a number of radio stations as well as his record label, Big Loud. Despite this, sales for his album ‘Dangerous’ surged, and Wallen maintained the Number One spot on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart for a record-breaking ten weeks. Wallen said he was “embarrassed and sorry” by his actions, and asked fans not to defend him.

In other news, in October the musician donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross as a way to support the relief effort in Hurricane Helene’s wake.

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