Morgan Wallen made his Saturday Night Live debut this weekend, two months after his initial invitation to perform was canceled due to breaking COVID-19 protocols.
During the episode, the country singer appeared in a skit alongside host Jason Bateman, which spoofed the viral videos showing Wallen partying without a mask at various bars in Alabama days before he was originally scheduled to appear on SNL.
In the sketch, Wallen is at an Alabama bar where he's met by two future versions of himself (played by Bateman and Bowen Yang), who warn him about the consequences to come as a result of his night out.
"I am you from the future and I came here to stop you from partying tonight," Bateman's character said, later adding, "Trust me somebody's gonna post a video of you ignoring COVID protocols, the whole internet's gonna freak out ... Once people hear about the party, you're in big trouble man, you're gonna get kicked off Saturday Night Live."
Wallen responded, " Nah, nah, nah. Lorne [Michaels] would never do that," Bateman's character agreed that Michael's "would never do that" and instead put blame elsewhere saying, "But the execs at NBC, they're gonna force his hand bro."
Bateman's character went on to convince Wallen to stay a little longer at the party. "Now I know it’s hard, I actually forgot how fun this party was. Maybe we stay for another five or 10 minutes," Bateman persuaded.
Yang, who played Wallen from two months in the future, then entered the sketch to warn the singer and Bateman's character about an experimental skin regimen. Shortly after, Pete Davidson appeared playing a random guy at the bar dressed like all three versions of the country singer.
"You're going to do the right thing and accept responsibility for what you did tonight," Davidson predicted. "(SNL) is gonna have you on two months later, I promise. There aren't many people willing to fly to New York right now."
The sketch concluded with Wallen singing a short new song inspired by the experience called "Focus On The Future." Watch the video in full below.
Back in October after his SNL debut was cancelled, Wallen turned to Instagram to address the controversy.
"I'm not positive for COVID, but my actions this past weekend were pretty short-sighted and that have obviously affected my long-term goals and my dreams," Wallen said the clip. "I respect the show's decision because I know that I put them in jeopardy. I take ownership for this. I'd like to apologize to SNL, to my fans, to my team, for bringing me these opportunities and I let 'em down."
He added, "On a personal note, I think I have some growing up to do. I think I’ve lost myself a little but I've tried to find joy in the wrong places, and it's left me with less joy. So I'm gonna go try to work on that."
During an appearance on The BobbyCast, Wallen reflected on the situation, admitting that it was "almost a good thing for me."
"It kind of forced me away, just to kind of reflect and look at myself and kind of get to know myself again and it was good for me. So I took like a while, almost two weeks, and just turned my phone off and just didn’t even look at it," he explained. "[I] drove on a tractor and things like that and just cleared my head. It was really, really good for me. I don’t really love the circumstances that led to that but I’m thankful for where it led me."
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