Last week, country music star Morgan Wallen made a swift and unexpected departure from the Saturday Night Live stage as the credits rolled.
Appearing as the musical guest alongside award-winning actress Mikey Madison, he did not stay for the concluding moments. Shortly after his departure, Wallen posted a picture of a plane with the caption “Take me to God’s country,” leading to it becoming a trending meme.
In this week’s SNL episode, hosted by Jack Black of A Minecraft Movie fame, Wallen’s sudden exit was brought up twice.
Referencing the “God’s country” remark during the opening, James Austin Johnson did so. Additionally, in a joke about recent tariffs on Weekend Update, the show playfully mentioned Wallen.
Colin Jost humorously stated, “Just in the last two days, the stock market has seen investors lose over six trillion dollars. Money is exiting the market faster than Morgan Wallen during goodnight.” The mentioned clip can be viewed above.
During the episode’s cold open, Johnson quoted Wallen as his Donald Trump character announced his tariffs. “I even put tariffs on an island uninhabited by humans. It’s called Heard and McDonald Island,” Johnson’s Trump said. “McDonald Island. I’d love to visit there, right? McDonald Island. Can you imagine that? A Big Mac and a hula skirt, oh la la … Get me to God’s country, right? Remember that? Wow.”
Last week, SNL cast member Kenan Thompson shared with Entertainment Weekly that he “definitely saw” Wallen make his quick exit. “I don’t know what goes through people’s minds when they decide to do stuff like that,” Thompson remarked. “I don’t know if he understood the assignment or not, or if he was really feeling a certain kind of way. … You see somebody before you get a chance to say hi or give them a compliment, and they’re just gone. I thought maybe he had to go to the potty or something.”
Thompson also added, “Seems like a complicated individual, I guess. … 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.”
Elton John and Brandi Carlile were musical guests on this week’s episode.
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