Morgan Wallen breaks silence on abrupt 'SNL' exit: 'I was ready to go home'

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Morgan Wallen has broken his silence on his abrupt departure following his appearance on Saturday Night Live in March.

The country music superstar went viral after his hasty exit following his performance on the sketch comedy show on March 29th.

Instead of gladhanding with the rest of the cast, the 31-year-old musician said a brief few words to host Mikey Madison, giving her a one-armed hug, before marching off without so much as a glance behind him.

Shortly afterwards, Wallen posted a photo of a private plane waiting for him on a tarmac in New York, captioning it, “Get me to God’s country.”

He later started selling merchandise with the catchphrase written on it.

But the two-time Grammy nominee riled some fans of the show, who shared screenshots of cast member Ego Nwodim reacting to his getaway and accusing him of being a “petty loser” for storming off.

“Morgan Wallen with a little more of the catty-ass petty loser s— he so proudly displayed running offstage down the center aisle & right past the camera at SNL curtain call,” one person swiped on X. “This & the tone-deaf private jet flaunt couldn’t be more lame & undercutting coming from a country star.”

Speaking out on the moment in a recent interview with Caleb Pressley on his Sundae Conversations, Wallen said he wasn’t trying to make a statement with his controversial retreat.

“Seriously, SNL, did they make you mad?” Pressley asked.

“No, no,” Wallen replied. “I was just ready to go home. I’d been there all week.”

When Pressley jokingly asked Wallen about whether or not he does chores around the house and if he could “fix a TV, if it was on SNL?” Wallen quipped: “I could change it for sure.”

Despite being one of the biggest names in music, Wallen’s career hit a speed bump after he was caught on video calling his friend the N-word after a night out in 2021 and again last year when he was accused of throwing a chair off the top of Nashville bar. The Sand in My Boots singer also had been scratched as a musical guest on SNL back in 2020 after he was allegedly filmed partying without a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As social media commentary swirled about his late-night antics, many of his fans praised Wallen for ignoring the liberal cast of SNL.

Author Buzz Patterson shared a clip of Wallen’s hurried exodus from 30 Rockefeller Plaza along with an applause emoji and writing, “Morgan Wallen shows the SNL cast exactly how he feels. Love it.”

A source close to Wallen later told TMZ that his quick dash for the doorway was an “oopsie moment” and he wasn’t trying to make a big statement.

Another insider told Variety that Wallen “had a good time and no slight was intended with either his prominent exit or his Instagram post.”

But longtime SNL cast member Kenan Thompson told Entertainment Weekly that he “definitely saw it” when Wallen headed for the exit.

“I don’t know what goes through people’s minds when they decide to do stuff like that,” Thompson told EW of Wallen’s decision to flee without so much as a wave goodbye to the show’s cast. “I don’t know if he understood the assignment or not, or if he was really feeling a certain kind of way.”

Colin Jost also made fun of Wallen during a segment of Weekend Update last month when he made a joke about the economy and the recent stock market collapse.

“Just in the past two days, investors have lost over $6 trillion,” Jost said. “Money is leaving the stock market faster than Morgan Wallen at goodnights.”

Donald Trump impersonator James Austin Johnson also dropped Wallen’s “Get me to God’s country” line into a sketch about the president’s plans to levy tariffs on uninhabited islands.

mdaniell@postmedia.com