This weekend, country star Morgan Wallen made his SNL debut in an episode hosted by Jason Bateman. Not only did Morgan perform on the show as a musical guest, but he also played himself in a rather controversial sketch about partying during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nbc / Rosalind O’Connor / NBC
Before we get into the specifics of the sketch, allow me to give you a little background on the situation. Originally, Morgan was announced as the musical guest for the October 10th episode of SNL, performing alongside host Bill Burr.
Nbc / Will Heath / NBC
However during the week of his performance, videos surfaced online of the country star unmasked and ignoring social distancing guidelines at a University of Alabama party.
At that time, SNL had just returned to the studio for the first time during the pandemic and was hosting live audience members again. They enforced strict COVID-19 guidelines to ensure the safety of everyone involved, including daily tests and requiring masks at all times.
Morgan was pulled from the episode, and took to Instagram to apologize for his actions. Jack White went on to fill his vacancy on the show.
In his apology video, Morgan took ownership for his actions, apologized to his fans and the SNL crew, and explained that he had “some growing up to do.”
Fast forward to this weekend, where Morgan made his Saturday Night Live debut almost two months after his initial controversy. And in true SNL fashion, he addressed the elephant in the room in a sketch.
NBC
Jason Bateman and Bowen Yang played alternative versions of Morgan from one and two months into the future, respectively. They poked fun at Morgan’s “airtight logic” of asking the girl not to post the video of them kissing and warned him about the consequences of being at the party.
NBC
Pete Davidson played a fellow partygoer who joked about why Morgan was invited back to the show so soon. He clarified it wasn’t SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels that booted Morgan from the show initially, but NBC executives.
NBC
And finally, Morgan concluded the sketch with a song he wrote about the whole predicament called “Focus On The Future.”
Am I the only one who is kinda disappointed that SNL gave Morgan Wallen a second chance? Punishing him with a skit that requires him to laugh at himself in no way makes up for the danger that he put people in #SNL
snl kicking morgan wallen for being an absolute idiot during covid only to ask him back like a month later and make a cheeky lil sketch about him being an idiot is the biggest joke they could have possibly written
This person also pointed out that it felt a little hypocritical that the sketch came directly after one where the folks at SNL discussed spending the holidays away from family and friends this year.
