• Wallen was the musical guest on this weekend’s episode
  • A social media post following his appearance has generated debate
  • The country star has faced a backlash online
Country star Morgan Wallen performs onstage.
Credit: Imago

Morgan Wallen has become the centre of attention online after a rather abrupt exit from his appearance on Saturday Night Live.

The country star was the musical guest on this past weekend’s episode, hosted by recent Academy Award winner Mikey Madison. Wallen performed two songs on the show from his forthcoming album, but his performances are not what has been discussed online. Instead, Wallen’s abrupt walk off as the credits rolled, rather than walking back towards the SNL cast, and following social media post, have dominated social media discourse.

Wallen’s Camp Dampen Online Discourse

Wallen initially shared a hug with Madison and looked to be in high spirits, but then simply walked off camera. Traditionally, hosts and musical guests will mingle with the cast as the credits roll. Not long afterwards, Wallen posted a shot of his private jet to his Instagram story, with the caption, “Get me to God’s Country”.

Image: Morgan Wallen/Instagram

The walk off and subsequent post led many people to believe that Wallen had not enjoyed his SNL experience and couldn’t wait to leave New York. Wallen’s camp, however, have moved to distance the country music star from any sort of controversy or problems with the NBC staple, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a much lauded, star studded episode.

Wallen’s premature exit has been put down to a misunderstanding, with Variety reporting on the matter, “it was simply an ‘oops’ moment that everyone on hand had a laugh about, according to those familiar with his camp’s perception of how it went down; that was the way he entered and exited the studio all week during rehearsal and camera blocking, so he wasn’t thinking about being on-camera when he strolled off stage.”

The Internet Reacts

The internet, unsurprisingly, had other ideas, with X blowing up in the aftermath.

Wallen courted controversy in 2021 when footage emerged of him using a racial slur with friends, during a night out. Wallen apologised for using the slur, pleaded with fans not to defend him and donated $300,000 to the Black Music Action Coalition in the names of 20 people who counseled him following the footage being leaked online by TMZ.

Wallen is yet to comment on the SNL incident at the time of writing.

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Joe Baiamonte
Joe spent four years heading up SPORTbible’s editorial team before taking over at UNILAD Sport. Joe has regularly provided WWE coverage for almost a decade, interviewing many of the biggest names in the business and covering several major events in the United States and Europe, including four WrestleManias.
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