Morgan Wallen Walked Off Stage During The SNL Closing Credits, And Now Fans Are Convinced There’s Drama

I’ve watched hundreds of episodes of Saturday Night Live, and they almost all end the same way. The host thanks the musical guest, makes an innocuous comment or two about how good of a time they had, the music starts, the credits roll, everyone hugs each other and then the camera cuts away. It’s, without question, the most formulaic part of the show, which is why it caught me off guard when this week’s musical guest Morgan Wallen walked directly off stage without interacting with any cast members. Not surprisingly, a lot of other fans noticed too, and, of course, social media is now abuzz with questions about what happened and why.

Let’s back up real quick and set the scene. Wallen has a rather colorful history and backstory with Saturday Night Live. He was originally supposed to be a musical guest during the Covid shows in 2020, but the sketch comedy staple bumped him after he was photographed partying without a mask on, which was a super hot button issue at the time. He was later invited back a few months later and appeared in a sketch that made light of the incident.

This week, he returned with host Mikey Madison. He performed “I’m The Problem” and “Just In Case” on the show without incident, but then the closing credits happened and social media immediately lit up with trending videos of the incident and a lot of unsubstantiated gossip about what could be going on. You can watch a clip below…

Most of the comments under that video are people asking why he walked off stage or discussing why the cast is so much further back from Wallen and Madison than they normally appear to be on other episodes with other hosts. There’s a general sense of confusion from many and a perception from some that maybe he thinks he’s too good to be there, but honestly, that’s all very tame compared to the conversions going on underneath less official videos. One user posted a short video of Wallen walking off with a caption saying there’s a “special place in hell” for him. It has over 17,000 likes. Others are clipping the reactions of SNL stars in the background who appear to look confused or irritated about him leaving. There’s even a Reddit thread with SNL fans speculating on what happened.

Ultimately, we just don’t know what happened. He gives Madison a half-hearted hug and then leaves. Maybe he’s not an SNL fan and doesn’t really know how things are normally done. Maybe he didn’t really like the cast members and was ready to leave. Maybe the cast members didn’t really like him, given some of his past controversies. We just don’t know. All we have is that video and a picture of a plane he dropped on his Instagram story with a note saying “Get me to God’s country.”

That certainly seems like it's implying he wanted to leave immediately and get back to a place and people he's more comfortable with, but ultimately, we just don't know. He stayed to appear during the closing. It's not like he left mid-show; so, ultimately, it's all just a bunch of speculation right now.

Fortunately, stories about what happened behind the scenes at SNL tend to get out eventually. You never quite know the timeframe though. Sometimes people start speaking off the record immediately about a host or musical guest and how they feel, and sometimes it takes many decades and a book to get more detailed versions of a story. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens here. I suspect it’ll likely depend a lot on whether there’s actual drama here or he just randomly walked off stage and everyone is making a big deal over nothing.

Saturday Night Live will return with a new episode next week hosted by Jack Black.