{"id":176555,"date":"2025-08-26T08:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T08:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/176555\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T08:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T08:35:11","slug":"snl-player-devon-walker-announces-hes-leaving-toxic-as-hell-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/176555\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018SNL\u2019 Player Devon Walker Announces He\u2019s Leaving \u2018Toxic as Hell\u2019 Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday Night Live cast member Devon Walker has left the show, claiming the iconic TV comedy was sometimes \u201ctoxic as hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old comedian announced his departure on Monday on his Instagram account. He posted a note<\/a> with the cryptic title, \u2018Wait… did he quit or did he get fired?\u2019\u2014a question he never directly answered. His caption read, \u201cme and baby broke up.\u201d<\/p>\n

After writing for Netflix sitcom Big Mouth, Walker joined the SNL cast in 2022, and was promoted to the repertory cast last year.<\/p>\n

\"SATURDAYDevon Walker during SNL’s 50th anniversary celebrations this year. John Nacion\/Variety via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Comparing jobs in the entertainment industry to \u201ca bunch of little marriages,\u201d Walker said on Instagram, \u201csome of \u2019em last for a long time if we\u2019re lucky, but most of them are fleeting. Permanent until they\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the deal. You know what it is when you sign up,\u201d Walker added.<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cMe and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell. But we… made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction. We made a f—ed up lil family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker thanked his friends Alex English and Gary Richardson, who are both SNL writers\u2014the trio ran the DAD comedy show at New York\u2019s Jane Hotel. The comedian said they \u201creally went from running a bar show to working together at 30 Rock!\u201d<\/p>\n

The comedian then posted a separate Instagram story<\/a>, which added, \u201cJust to be clear, this is good news! It was just time for me to do something different. Please don\u2019t be hitting me with the \u2018I\u2019m so sorry\u2019 \u2014 we not on that at ALL. Sometimes mom and dad just don\u2019t see things eye to eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Daily Beast has contacted NBC for clarification on Walker\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n

\"SATURDAYAnchor Michael Che and Devon Walker during Weekend Update on Saturday, March 29, 2025. NBC\/Will Heath\/NBC via Getty Images <\/p>\n

The 51st season of Saturday Night Live will premiere on Saturday, Oct. 4, on NBC. A U.K. version of the program, which launched in the U.S. in 1975, is also being steered by SNL creator Lorne Michaels.<\/p>\n

Talking to Puck last week<\/a>, Michaels, 80, said there would be several current cast members exiting and amid pending changes to the show.<\/p>\n

\"SATURDAYJames Austin Johnson as Donald Trump on SNL. NBC\/Will Heath\/NBC via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Michaels also said he was \u201cstunned\u201d when CBS axed The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, but noted the way people consume television has changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s two audiences now,\u201d Michaels said. \u201cThere\u2019s the audience that is [watching on] TikTok and YouTube, and there\u2019s a linear audience. Both Seth [Meyers] and [Stephen] Colbert are heirs to David Letterman… They\u2019re going to be doing that [type of show], just as I\u2019m still doing SNL, as if everybody\u2019s watching that night.”<\/p>\n

He also revealed the Donald Trump character on SNL, played by James Austin Johnson, will continue to go to air, even though the president is not an SNL fan.<\/p>\n

Trump, who hosted SNL in 2015, slammed the program<\/a> on his Truth Social account three years ago.<\/p>\n

\"SATURDAYDonald Trump hosting SNL in 2015 with Taran Killam (left) and Darrell Hammond (right). NBC\/NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal via <\/p>\n

\u201cI once hosted Saturday Night Live, and the ratings were HUUUGE!,” Trump wrote. \u201cNow, however, the ratings are lower than ever before, and the show will probably be put to \u201crest.\u201d It is just not, at these levels, sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump called it, \u201ca bad show that\u2019s not funny or smart,\u201d and said Michaels was \u201cangry and exhausted, the show even more so. It was once good, never great, but now, like the Late Night Losers who have lost their audience but have no idea why, it is over for SNL – A great thing for America!\u201d<\/p>\n

Talking to Puck, Michaels noted Trump\u2019s superpower as a communicator: \u201cWhatever crimes Trump is committing, he\u2019s doing it in broad daylight.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThere is absolutely nothing that the people who vote for him\u2014or me\u2014don\u2019t know. And he is a really powerful media figure. He knows how to hold an audience. That\u2019s a very powerful thing, and I think it was always underestimated. His politics are obviously not my politics, but denouncing [him] doesn\u2019t work.”<\/p>\n