One week after singer Morgan Wallen drew controversy after walking off the "SNL" stage early during the end credits, the show did not ignore what had taken place.
During the show's cold open, cast member James Austin Johnson, who was playing President Donald Trump as he announced his sweeping tariffs at the White House, referred to the viral controversy.
Johnson as Trump began riffing about the Herd Island and McDonald Islands, which are uninhabited islands the president put tariffs on in real life.
"Ooo, McDonald Island, I'd love to visit there," Johnson as Trump said. "Can you imagine that? A Big Mac in a hula skirt. Ooo la la."
Johnson as Trump then held up artwork depicting the scenario and then said, "get me to God's country, right?" The comment alluded to Wallen's Instagram post hours after his time on the show last week, where he wrote the same words along with a picture of him on an airport tarmac.
" frameborder="0">
The comment was trolled by many New Yorkers, with even the Empire State Building responding to the controversy.
get me to god's country pic.twitter.com/CavpiuXfGE
— Empire State Building (@EmpireStateBldg) March 31, 2025
Wallen was also the butt of another joke during the show's "Weekend Update," when co-host Colin Jost compared the "Lies Lies Lies" singer to money leaving the stock market.
"Just in the past two days, investors have lost more than $6 trillion," Jost said of the stock market slide this week. "Money is leaving the stock market faster than Morgan Wallen at good nights."
" frameborder="0">
Cast member Kenan Thompson had responded to Wallen's actions earlier in the week in an interview with Entertainment Weekly March 31, saying, “I thought maybe he had to go to the potty or something."
“It’s definitely a spike in the norm. We’re so used to everybody just turning around and high-fiving us, everybody’s saying, ‘Good job, good job, good job,'" Thompson added. So when there’s a departure from that, it’s like, ‘Hmm, I wonder what that’s about?’”
For his part, Wallen did not respond to the controversy directly but did begin selling merchandise with the phrase “Get me to God’s country" on his official website.
The host for the April 5 episode of "Saturday Night Live" was Jack Black, along with musical guests Brandi Carlile and Elton John.
The "School of Rock" star broke out in song during his monologue, doing his own rendition of Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle." Take a look:
" frameborder="0">
