carry in : NBC , Peacock , TV| Tagged : saturday dark live , snl

During tonight ’s SNL Cold Open , James Austin Johnson ’s Trump dropped a percipient consultation to last hebdomad ’s dramatic event with Morgan Wallen .

UPDATE : NBC’sSaturday Night Livedidn’t just cite theMorgan Wallendrama during the Cold Open ( more on that below ) , with SNL " Weekend Update"Colin Jostdiscussing howDonald Trump ’s tariffs are hurting Wall Street : " Money is leaving the stock market faster than Morgan Wallen at Goodnights . "

SNL Cold Open Drops Morgan Wallen/“God’s Country” Reference/Dig

Here ’s a look at the time from " Weekend Update , " with the Wallen reference hitting at around the 00:45 mark :

Weekend Update with Colin Jost and Michael Che!pic.twitter.com / SpOxEgrncT

— Saturday Night Live – SNL ( @nbcsnl)April 6 , 2025

SNL 50:

NBC’sSaturday Night Livereturned this week with   hostJack Blackand musical guestsElton John&Brandi Carlile – but tonight ’s cold outdoors point that SNL has n’t quite forget about the drama emanating from how last weekend ’s melodic guest , Morgan Wallen , get out the show at the end of the dark while the show was still live and his subsequent " Get me to God ’s land " mail service ( full story on that below ) . During the opener that meet SNL tackle Donald Trump ’s ( James Austin Johnson ) tariffs rollout from this past week , Trump picture off some nontextual matter of what he envisioned the McDonald Islands looked like – before append , " Get me to God ’s country , right ? think that ? " along with a oral sex milkshake .

Here ’s a spirit at tonight ’s cold open , with Johnson referencing Wallen ’s " God ’s country " mail at around the 00:53 scar :

Trump provides an update on his late tariffspic.twitter.com/vsX224eBWf

SNL

SNL & Morgan Wallen: A Brief History

Ourreally brief historyof SNL and Wallen begins about five years ago . During Season 46 , Wallen was set to be the melodic Edgar Albert Guest alongside hostBill Burr , but that change when a TikTok video of the country music artist at a house party minus a mask began circulating on societal media , disregarding COVID precautions and regulation . In the TV , Wallen was learn doing shots in a crowded party where societal distancing and mask were not in free rein and also date buss an unmasked woman . Wallen would go on to apologize for what exit down , and SNL EPLorne Michaelswould invite Wallen back as the melodious guest by and by that same season during the December 5 , 2020 , show hosted byJason Bateman .

Now , we ’re chute to this weekend . Musically , Wallen offer stiff functioning of " I ’m the Problem " and " Just in Case " – and overall , everything seemed pretty normal . But thing develop weird during the goodnight just before and while the credits were undulate . First , there was distance between Madison and Wallen and the rest of the hurl . Then , you had Wallen say a few give-and-take to Madison – without ever flex his attention to the SNL spew behind him . But the real headline - grabber was how Wallen get out – from the front of the stage and walk towards the photographic camera . It was an odd agency for something as simple as a " goodnight " to go down , vibing as if Wallen either suddenly got lost or was look to get away from SNL sooner rather than afterwards .

give thanks you , Mikey Madison and@MorganWallen ! Goodnight!pic.twitter.com / FDlInhhHqb

SNL

— Saturday Night Live – SNL ( @nbcsnl)March 30 , 2025

Did Wallen have issues with the SNL hurl and writers ? Were there some other issue at play?TMZ – and other web site – reportedthat folks close to Wallen said it was all much ado about nothing . Not helping their argument was Wallen ’s Instagram Stories post shortly after he cash in one’s chips stage flop : " Get me to God ’s country , " along with an figure of a private jet .

So we decided to jump on Peacock and take a look back at December 2020 to see if Wallen ’s behavior during the goodnight and end credits was exchangeable to what went down last night . It was n’t . After friendly greeting between Wallen and Bateman , you see Wallen turning his care to the SNL hurl – and the SNL mould reciprocates . In fact , it ’s your typically nice end that we unremarkably get , with Wallen sticking around on the stage as the internet edit to whatever local affiliates were running at 1 premier ET . To be clean , there was no sign indicate that Wallen exited by walking down off the front of the level .

Kenan Thompson on Morgan Wallen Walking, “God’s Country” Post

address withEWexclusively while raise his " GERD Is No Joke " campaign with Phathom Pharmaceuticals , Thompson shared that he was allow for wondering what was give-up the ghost on with Wallen , just like everyone else . " I do n’t experience what goes through multitude ’s minds when they decide to do stuff like that . I do n’t know if he read the duty assignment or not or if he was really feeling a certain variety of way , " Thompson said . confirm that he " definitely saw it " ( with many views remark that it come along as if Thompson andEgo Nwodimwere reacting to watch Wallen walk forth ) , Thompson noted that the move was in spades not how the goodnight usually go down .

" You see somebody before you get a chance to say hi or say , ' good job ' or anything like that , they just dip . I intend mayhap he had to go to the pot or something , " Thompson lend . " It ’s definitely a spike in the norm . We ’re so used to everybody just turn around and high - fiving us , everybody ’s say , ' Good job , good caper , good job . ' So when there ’s a departure from that , it ’s like , ' Hmm , I wonder what that ’s about ? ' " In terms of his interactions with Wallen , Thompson shared that he " never met " Wallen , either this past weekend or during his first visual aspect in December 2020 .   " Seems like a complicated individual , I guess , " Thompson sum .

It was n’t the first clock time that Thompson experienced an SNL musical guest who had issues connect with the SNL team , noting that " Prince did the same thing " ( before sum up , " I ’m not saying Morgan Wallen is Prince " ) . But for Thompson , the key divergence was the SNL squad knew going in that Prince was an creative person who generally kept to himself or to the universe of mass he traveled with and kept around him . " We were n’t surprised because Prince was notoriously kind of standoffish . It ’s just how he was . So we just call back like , ' Okay , now he ’s go back into fantasyland , " Thompson explained . " But Saturday I guess it was just dissimilar because it just felt so disconnected . And it was already such a pocket-sized grouping on the stage anyway . So it was just like , oh wow , that was pretty visible . You know what I ’m saying ? It was a pretty visible thing . "

As for Wallen ’s Instagram post showing his super acid that included the message , " Get me to God ’s country , " let ’s just say that Thompson did n’t go like a big fan of it . " The ' God ’s country ' of it all is strange because it ’s like , what are you stress to say ? You trying to say that we are not in God ’s nation ? We ’re not all in God ’s country ? We ’re not all under God ’s umbrella ? That ’s not necessarily my favorite , " Thompson shared . " But whatever . Moving on , we got a fresh show . We got Jack Black this hebdomad . We ’re here utter about GERD . We will be fine . "

Enjoyed this ? Please portion out on social media !