Producing the TV shows we love to watch became considerably more difficult earlier this year, and now that most series have started filming again, there are a lot of new guidelines and restrictions in place to help keep everyone safe. Fans of Saturday Night Live are glad to see the show back in the studio, but will likely remember that musical guest Morgan Wallen had to be replaced the week of his scheduled performance. Now, he's being given another chance to perform live on the long-running late night hit.
It was just a little over a month ago when up and coming country music star Morgan Wallen was granted the opportunity to gain even more fans by performing on SNL. But, the show cancelled his appearance for breaking their new virus guidelines, while noting at the time that he was welcome to come back at a later date. Now, it appears as though things have been worked out, and that Wallen has learned to adhere to their rules, because The Wrap reports that he's set to perform on the December 5 show, which has Jason Bateman on board to host.
The second episode of Season 46 had been scheduled with host Bill Burr, and Wallen was to make his debut at the 30 Rock studio to act as musical guest. Unfortunately, with new, very strict, protocols in place to make sure everyone coming or going from the set is healthy, SNL producers cancelled Wallen's appearance. The problem was that videos of the singer hit social media a few days before he was scheduled to perform, which showed him partying at several bars and a house party, along with kissing several women. In each case, there were lots of unmasked people around, and Wallen himself was also unmasked.
At the time, SNL's Lorne Michaels admitted that they had to call in a replacement on the Thursday night before the live show, with rocker Jack White eventually being able to fill in for Morgan Wallen on such short notice. While Wallen's actions clearly put the cast and crew in a temporary bind, at least they found out before he could have potentially endangered anyone. Plus, Michaels was quick to admit that Wallen is hardly the first musician to party hard, but noted the "different times" which led to the decision to replace him.
Morgan Wallen has done quite well for himself since his time on Usher's team during Season 6 of The Voice, and he already has a lot of fans who were very unhappy about the decision to boot him from SNL. To his credit, not long after, Wallen posted a message to his fans about it on Instagram, where he apologized to those at SNL, and his fans, and said he realized he could have put people in danger and respected the choice to scrap his performance.
Luckily, this mini-saga seems to have a happy ending for all involved, and Morgan Wallen will now be able to step onto the Saturday Night Live stage as a rule-follower of the first order. SNL will be back on NBC with new episodes on December 5, but for more to watch, check out our guide to fall TV.
