Country singer Morgan Wallen was seen taking shots and kissing an unmasked woman at a crowded party in just one of several viral TikTok videos.
While NBC and “Saturday Night Live” have implemented stringent safety standards in order to return to work amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it looks like at least one upcoming guest didn’t get the memo.
On Tuesday, a TikTok video of upcoming musical guest Morgan Wallen partying maskless began to make the rounds, garnering him criticism among the show’s legions of fans.
The country music star could be seen taking shots and even kissing a woman in the crowded party that could just as well have been taking place in a pre-Covid world. There were no signs of social distancing happening anywhere, and nary a mask in sight.
Wallen is scheduled to appear on “SNL” this upcoming weekend as its musical guest, alongside host Bill Burr. But is that still a good idea after a night of maskless partying?
According to AL.com, it all went down this past Saturday night, as the venerable late-night sketch comedy show was kicking off its 46th season live in New York. Wallen appeared in several TikTok videos in Tuscaloosa after the Crimson Tide defeated Texas A&M.
Videos include Wallen at the aforementioned house party, as well as hanging out at a bar and even in a car with one lucky fan. While he’s rocking a bandanna slung around his neck, it doesn’t appear to ever make it up and over his mouth or nose.
All that partying came just one day after Wallen took to Twitter to tout his excitement about getting booked on “SNL,” writing, “Doesn’t get much bigger than this when it comes to television. Thank you @nbcsnl for having a good ole boy and his friends on to sing our stories.”
Fans quickly got Wallen’s name trending on Twitter, wondering how he could possibly be allowed to go on “SNL” this weekend when you’re supposed to quarantine for 14 days after any possible exposure, and his scheduled appearance comes only 7 days after his night of revelry.
Representatives for NBC and the show declined Variety’s request for comment, while Wallen’s representation did not respond, but surely there are talks underway.
Behind-the-scenes footage of “SNL” production has shown that both masks and social distancing guidelines are being followed during the week leading up to new shows, with writers and performers sitting six feet apart as they hammer out the show.
It was revealed that the show got around mandates against having a live audience by effectively making its in-studio audience — which was tested for Covid beforehand — paid employees for the night, per a report by The New York Times. That audience was also capped at 100 people (25 percent the show’s usual capacity).
With all those guidelines, it’s clear that “SNL” is working hard to stay in compliance with state mandates for productions of this sort. Now that it’s known Wallen shirked similar mandates a week before his scheduled appearance, it seems likely that some kind of decision will have to be made.
Either Wallen could be rescheduled and bumped to later in the season, or there is always the option of having him deliver a virtual performance.
Certainly fans have gotten used to that over the past several months with “The Voice,” “American Idol,” “America’s Got Talent,” all the talk shows and even several awards shows going virtual already.
What’s one more?
