Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels revealed on Friday that producers secured a new musical guest after pulling country music star Morgan Wallen for breaking coronavirus protocols.
In an interview with NBC’s TODAY, Michaels said singer-songwriter and White Stripes veteran Jack White will perform this weekend in place of Wallen. But he stressed that they are still working out some details for the performance.
“I know Jack White is coming in, and there could be some other stuff still in discussion,” Michaels told co-host Willie Geist. “Calling somebody on a Thursday to be here for Friday and say, you know, is complicated. It has to be people who are ready to go.”
Producers removed Wallen as the scheduled act after he was seen on social media partying without a mask on in Alabama. Wallen later said in an Instagram video that he was cut from the NBC show lineup on Saturday because of “COVID-19 protocols.” The music artist also said he had not tested positive for COVID-19 but said his actions were “pretty shortsighted,” and he apologized.
Michaels said he hopes to bring Wallen on the show to perform at a different time.
“It probably isn’t the first country singer or the first person from rock ‘n’ roll who partied after a big, in that case, football game or a concert,” Michaels said. “But we’re just living in a different time, and everything is scrutinized in a microscopic way.”
