Devon Walker thinks fans are overreacting to the cast changes for Saturday Night Live ahead of Season 51. After it was announced thathe and three other cast members would be exiting the NBC sketch comedy show this fall, Walker, 34, took to social media to calm down fans who were freaking out over the shakeup and calling it “a bloodbath.”
“Yall acting like we died lol we just getting different jobs,” Walker wrote on X.
Walker also had a response to speculation that he was fired from the show instead of exiting on his own. “They keep trying to tell my story like they work in the building smh,” he wrote.
Earlier this week, Walker announced in an Instagram post that he was leaving the show after a three-season run. “Me and my baby broke up,” he captioned a photo from the SNL set. The comedian described his run on the series as “really cool” and “toxic as hell.”
He later clarified on his Instagram stories that his exit was “good news.” “It was just time for me to do something different. Please do not be hitting me with all the ‘I’m so sorry’ we not on that AT ALL,” he added.
The Cast Cuts Continue at ‘SNL’
Within days of Walker’s exit announcement, three more SNL stars were reported to be leaving the show: Emil Wakim, who joined the cast for Season 50; longtime cast member Heidi Gardner; and Michael Longfellow, who joined the show in Season 48 alongside Walker.
On Aug. 28, Walker posted a photo montage of himself and Longfellow as a duo with the caption “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The surviving SNL cast—as of now— includes Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernández, James Austin Johnson, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, and “Weekend Update” duo Michael Che and Colin Jost, as well as featured players Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline.
In an interview with Puck, SNL showrunner Lorne Michaels teased that there would be a shakeup for Season 51 after intentionally keeping the core cast intact for the show’s 50th anniversary celebration. Michaels only confirmed that Johnson would return for Season 51.
