Beloved comedy diva Bowen Yang has confirmed the unfortunate news that he has departed Saturday Night Live after becoming part of the SNL fam in 2018.
The unexpected news dropped yesterday, with an insider telling the New York Post it was a shock to the team, but not totally unexpected.
“It’s his choice. People have no idea what is really going on,” the source shared. “This has come out of the blue, but is no surprise.”
Taking to Instagram, Yang confirmed the tea was, indeed, accurate, sharing a carousel of images from his time on the show, along with the following statement: “I loved working at SNL, and most of all, I loved the people. I was there at a time when many things in the world started to seem futile, but working at 30 Rock taught me the value in showing up anyway when people make it worthwhile.”
“I learned about myself (bad with wigs). I learned about others (generous, vulnerable, hot),” he continued.
“I learned that human error can be nothing but correct. I learned that comedy is mostly logistics and that it will usually fail until it doesn’t.”
After thanking his colleagues, Yang went on to praise Ariana Grande, because of course.
“Thank you to Ari for sending me off in the dreamiest way I could imagine,” he continued.
“Thank you to Lorne [Michaels] for the job. For the standard. And for bringing everyone at work together. They all care deeply about people in the room, any room, enjoying themselves. I can’t believe I was ever included in that. The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready, but shiiiiit, I hope I am.”
It comes after a brutal mass exodus in which a bunch of iconic SNL stars were ousted from the show, one of whom described the show as “toxic as hell” in their farewell statement.
As fans started to panic, Yang assured them he’d be returning for the forthcoming season: “I’ve always gone by the instinct of, ‘Do I have more to do?’ And I feel like I do,” Yang told PEOPLE at the time.
“Even Lorne and I talked about it, and Lorne was like, ‘You have more to do’, and that means a lot,” he added.
Yang said he almost wasn’t going to return to Saturday Night Live with the new era because he was concerned “the audience is maybe getting sick of me”, to which Michaels reminded him: “That’s not true, there’s more for you to do. I need you’.”
Hmmmm… wonder what’s gone on between September and now!?
After several beloved cast members confirmed they’d been ditched, it was announced that a bunch of fresh talent had been cast, including Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska.
