Morgan Wallen was seen abruptly walking off Saturday Night Live before the end of the show – and viewers took notice.
The country singer was the latest musical guest on the show, which aired last Saturday (March 29) with Oscar-winning actress Mikey Madison as its featured host.
During the credit roll – which usually sees the SNL cast celebrate the end of the show with both host and musical guest – Wallen was shown taking his leave off-camera after only greeting Madison goodbye.
Thank you, Mikey Madison and @MorganWallen! Goodnight! pic.twitter.com/FDlInhhHqb
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 30, 2025
During the show, Wallen performed two songs off his upcoming fourth album ‘I’m The Problem’. He was present with the cast and host to bid viewers goodbye at the end of the episode, which is customary for the long-running sketch comedy show.
Wallen then whispers something in Madison’s ear before giving her a friendly hug and walking off the stage without acknowledging the cast. Wallen – who is based in Nashville, Tennessee – then posted an Instagram Story with a picture of his private jet and a caption that read “Get me to God’s country”.
Viewers quickly took to social media to interpret Wallen’s sudden exit as a snub towards the cast. One social media user noted that Wallen was standing with Madison at an unusually great distance from the cast. “Am I missing something? The cast appears to be standing quite far back from the host and musical guest. The whole thing seems odd,” they tweeted.
“Darn, you can tell from the vibe ‘this was one of the bad ones.'”, another user wrote. A Variety report shared that sources close to Wallen maintain the singer had a good time at the show, which is filmed in New York, and that his exit and Instagram post were not meant to be a slight towards its cast.
Wallen remains a controversial figure 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.
Prior to that, the Tennessee country star broke CDC guidelines for the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020, which saw his planned debut on SNL cancelled. He did go on to perform on the show two months later and joked about partying without social distancing during a sketch.
Since January, Wallen has been teasing and releasing tracks from his upcoming album, which is due for release on May 16. Alongside the two he performed last night, he’s also released ‘Superman’, ‘Smile’ and ‘I’m a Little Crazy’.
It’s thought that the name of Wallen’s forthcoming album is in reference to some of his public scandals in recent years. In addition to the 2021 scandal, it was reported last April that 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.