Bowen Yang Hints at Issues with Nikki Haley Cameo on SNL

Television By TooFab Staff |
Getty / NBC

Yang's Instagram post came after fans noticed that the comedian was standing very far away from Dave Chappelle during the farewell segment on the January 27 episode.

It seems that Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang is not thrilled by some of the show's recent controversial decisions.

On Monday, Yang -- who has been a cast member on SNL since 2019 -- appeared to throw shade at the variety sketch show on Instagram after 2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley made a surprise appearance on Saturday's episode.

The Instagram post, below, featured a photo of a bouquet of flowers and beverages on a table, with a note that read: "Haley -- Welcome to Studio 8H! From, Lorne + everyone at SNL."

Alongside the photo, Yang wrote, "everyone :)." The comedian had the comments on the post disabled, before he later removed the post altogether.

Yang's post appeared to drop some sarcastic shade on Haley's cameo during the Cold Open of Saturday night's episode, which was hosted by Ayo Edebiri. During the segment, Haley was a given a do-over of sorts to her disastrous "slavery" Civil War answer.

"I was just curious, what would you say was the main cause of the Civil War, and do you think it starts with an 's' and ends with a '–lavery?'" Edebiri asked, to which Haley replied, "Yep, I probably should've said that the first time."

Instagram

Yang's Instagram came a little over a week after fans noticed that the 33-year-old was standing very far away from Dave Chappelle during the farewell segment on the January 27 episode.

Chappelle -- who wasn't featured in the Dakota Johnson-hosted episode at all -- has received criticism in the past few years due to his controversial jokes about the LGBTQ+ community, particularly his anti-trans bits. It's unknown why he was on the stage at the close of the show.

Meanwhile, SNL also faced backlash earlier this week after its announcement that comedian Shane Gillis would be hosting the February 24 episode. This despite the fact that he was fired from the NBC series in 2019 before the season started for using racist and homophobic slurs on his podcast, including jokes about the Asian community.

Fans of Yang -- who is gay and Chinese-American -- have been calling out SNL over its decision to invite Gillis to host, in addition to Haley and Chappelle's appearances.