The cast of Saturday Night Live took a dig at country music star Morgan Wallen after he suddenly walked off stage at the end of last week’s show.
Wallen, 31, made headlines for his ‘rude’ exit and for breaking the longstanding tradition of mingling with the cast until the credits finish rolling.
Shortly afterwards, he posted a photo of a private jet with the caption, ‘Get me to God’s country,’ on his Instagram Story. But in doing so Wallen laid himself wide open to ridicule as the cast took aim during this week’s show.
The first salvo came during the opening monologue which saw James Austen Johnson’s impersonation of President Donald Trump mock the real world tariff announcements that were introduced earlier this week.
‘I even put tariffs on an island uninhabited by humans. It’s called McDonald Island,’ Johnson’s Trump said.
‘McDonald island, I would love to visit there,’ he continued, holding up a mocked up photo of a tropical island with palm trees made from French fries and chicken nuggets wearing hula skirts.
‘Can you imagine that? Big Mac and a hula skirt. Ooh la la,’ he said
‘Get me to God’s country, right?’, Johnson’s Trump said in a barb aimed at Wallen’s comment who upon leaving the show headed straight for his private jet posting to to his social media with the caption ‘Get me to God’s Country.’
James Austen Johnson’s impersonation of President Donald Trump saw mock the real world tariff announcements including on McDonald Island which he described as ‘God’s Country’
Last week, Morgan Wallen rushed offstage at SNL before the credits has finished rolling
Wallen skipped the traditional SNL afterparty, headed directly to the airport, and posted a picture of his private jet on Instagram with the caption: ‘Get me to God’s Country’
Johnson’s comment of Trump received the biggest laugh of the opening skit with the audience clearly knowing who the intended target was.
Later during the show’s Weekend Update segment, Colin Jost managed to squeeze in another barb aimed at Wallen.
In his lead story he told Trump’s tariffs had resulted in the worst week on the stock market since 2020.
‘Just in the past two days, investors have lost over $6 trillion. Money is leaving the stock faster than Morgan Wallen at good night,’ Jost said to applause.
Wallen later responded to the controversy and launched a line of merch with the catchphrase plastered on $45 t-shirts and hats.
‘He was unprofessional the entire time and came in with a chip on his shoulder,’ the insider said. ‘He thought that he was this massive star that deserved to be treated as if they were lucky to have him. When he wasn’t getting that, he threw a tantrum.
‘SNL has never had anyone exit before the credits and this really pissed a lot of people off. All it did was get him blackballed from ever appearing on SNL again.’
Wallen was the butt of jokes once against during the Weekend Update segment
The singer shared a photo of the designs of his new merch repeated the ‘God’s Country’ line
Wallen, 31, served as SNL’s musical guest on the March 29 episode, which was hosted by newly minted Oscar winner and Anora star Mikey Madison
Wallen had reportedly already angered staff when he refused to appear in a skit about long lines in New York City, forcing them to replace him with singer Joe Jonas at the last minute.
Adding insult to injury, he then skipped the traditional SNL party after filming and headed directly to the airport.
For some SNL cast members, it was the final straw.
‘His post was a total slap in the face for the folks who work so hard on the show,’ our source said.
Veteran SNL comedian Kenan Thompson also criticized Wallen’s post, saying on Monday: ‘The “God’s country” of it all is strange. Like, what are you trying to say? You trying to say that we are not in God’s country? We’re not all in God’s country? We’re not all under God’s umbrella?
‘I don’t know what goes through people’s minds when they decide to do stuff like that. I don’t know if he understood the assignment or not, or if he was really feeling a certain kind of way.’
Several days later, he responded to the controversy and launched a line of merch with the catchphrase plastered on $45 t-shirts and hats
Wallen has been arrested twice – first in May 2020 (left) and again last year (right)
After a number of scandals, the controversy-suffused country music star made his sophomore appearance on the show following his 2020 debut.
Four years ago, he temporarily stalled his career after he was caught on tape drunkenly shouting the N-word outside his home in February of 2021.
The N-word controversy led to public condemnation of Wallen, but fans of the singer responded to him using the offensive racial slur by listening to his music more than ever, leading to a 500 percent increase in streaming numbers.
In December last year, Wallen pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment for throwing a chair from the rooftop of a six-story bar in Nashville.
Wallen’s fourth studio album, I’m The Problem, is set for release on May 16.
