Morgan Wallen addressed his controversial decision to leave the Saturday Night Live stage early after appearing as the musical guest on the late-night sketch series’ March 30 episode.
Morgan Wallen was ready to go home.
The “Last Night” singer addressed his abrupt exit from the Saturday Night Live stage at the end of the late-night sketch series’ March 30 episode, for which he served as the musical guest.
During an appearance on the May 11 episode of Sundae Conversations with Caleb Pressley, Pressley and Wallen were discussing the singer doing some of his own household chores, like cutting grass and taking out the trash, when the comedian brought up SNL.
After Pressley asked “could you fix a TV, if it was on SNL?” Wallen responded by saying, “I could change it for sure.”
The podcast host then alluded to the “You Proof” hitmaker’s recent appearance on the show, asking, “Seriously, SNL, did they make you mad?” And to this, Wallen shot that notion down.
“No, no, I was just ready to go home,” he clarified. “I’d been there all week.”
Pressley also brought up Wallen posting a photo of a private jet on his Instagram Stories with the caption, “Get me to God’s country,” the same night he appeared on SNL, and the singer simply responded, “Yeah,” with a smile.
The recent back-and-forth serve as Wallen’s first comments on the controversy, though he did launch a new “God’s country” merch line last month alluding to his social media post.
Previously, SNL‘s longest-running cast member Kenan Thompson had made his thoughts known about Wallen’s abrupt exit.
“I don’t know what goes through people’s minds when they decide to do stuff like that,” he told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published March 31. “I don’t know if he understood the assignment or not, or if he was really feeling a certain kind of way.”
Kenan went on to point out how unusual it was for Wallen not to stick around during the show’s ending credits, which usually play over the host, musical guest and cast conversing on stage.
“It’s definitely a spike in the norm,” the comedian explained. “We’re so used to everybody just turning around and high-fiving us, everybody’s saying, ‘Good job, good job, good job.’ So when there’s a departure from that, it’s like, hmm, I wonder what that’s about?”
Kenan added, “Seems like a complicated individual, I guess.”
Wallen’s appearance on SNL was far from his first controversy. Keep reading for more on his most divisive moments…
Morgan Wallen Abruptly Walked Off Saturday Night Live Stage
Live from New York…it’s a sudden exit.
After serving as the musical guest for the March 29, 2025 episode of Saturday Night Live, Morgan Wallen took the stage to close out the show with host Mikey Madison.
But after the Anora star said goodbye to viewers, the country music star gave her a quick hug and then walked off—breaking tradition of hanging out with the cast as the credits roll.
Wallen later posted a photo of an airplane sitting on the runway to his Instagram Stories and wrote, “Get me to God’s country.”
Brett Carlsen/Getty ImagesMorgan Wallen Pleaded Guilty in Chair-Throwing Case
Wallen was arrested in April 2024 for allegedly throwing a chair from the rooftop of the bar Chief’s in Nashville, police shared at the time. A little more than a week later, the Grammy nominee publicly addressed the incident.
“I didn’t feel right publicly checking in until I made amends with some folks,” he wrote on X April 19, 2024. “I’ve touched base with Nashville law enforcement, my family, and the good people at Chief’s. I’m not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility.”
In December 2024, Wallen pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor reckless endangerment for the alleged chair-throwing incident. He was sentenced to two years of probation as well as seven days incarceration at a DUI education center.
Jason Kempin/Getty Images for CMAMorgan Wallen Used a Racial Slur
Following a leaked video of Wallen uttering a racial slur in February 2021, the singer apologized to fans.
“I’m embarrassed and sorry,” he said in a statement to E! News. “I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.”
Many country music artists slammed Wallen, radio stations dropped him, his then-record label suspended his contract indefinitely and he was banned from several award shows that year.
“My words matter,” he said in an Instagram video later that month. “A word can truly hurt a person, and at my core, it’s not what I’m OK with. This week I heard firsthand some personal stories from Black people that honestly shook me. And I know what I’m going through this week doesn’t even compare to some of the trials I heard about from them. I came away from those discussions with a deep appreciation for them and a clearer understanding of the weight of my words.”
