Devon Walker Exits Saturday Night Live After 3 Seasons, Says It's Sometimes 'Toxic as Hell'

In an interview with Puck News published Friday, Michaels said that with Season 50 being such a monumental moment, he'd opted not to mess with the cast -- as everyone wanted to be part of it.

"I wanted people coming back and being part of (the 50th season)," Michaels said. "And that meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions, or anything that was going to take the focus off." That said, cast members Punkie Johnson, Molly Kearney, and Chloe Troast did exit before the season began.

Michaels confirmed to the outlet that he is feeling some "pressure to reinvent" the show, saying that the announcement would come in "a week or so." In fact, he only confirmed that James Austin Johnson, who's portrayed Donald Trump for the past four seasons, would definitely be back.

And, well, it didn't take quite that long for things to start changing, as two writers and one cast member quickly announced that their time was up. On Monday afternoon, three-year writer Rosebud Baker confirmed her departure to LateNighter.

Celeste Yim was the first out trans and nonbinary writer on the show, rising to the position of writing supervisor in 2023 and serving with the show for a total of five years. They made the announcement on Instagram Sunday night that they were exiting, opening up about the "grueling" experience.

"Lorne hired me over the phone when I was 23 and the job literally made all of my dreams come true BUT it was also grueling and I slept in my office every week BUT my friends helped me with everything BUT I got yelled at by random famous men BUT some famous girls too BUT I loved it and I laughed every day and it’s where I grew up."

On Monday, Walker became the first cast member to announce their departure. Walker had been with the sketch comedy show for three seasons, having just been bumped up from feature player to the repertory cast ahead of the 50th season. "me and baby broke up ❤️," Walker captioned his Instagram share.

In the slideshow, he offered a little more information in a "note" graphic titled, "wait..did he quite or did he get fired?"

"To me, jobs in this industry feel like a bunch of little marriages. Some of em last for a long time if we’re lucky, but most of them are fleeting. Permanent until they’re not. That’s the deal. You know what it is it when you sign up," he wrote in the message.

"Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell," he continued. "But we did what we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction. We made a f--ked up lil family."

"More than anything, I’m just really happy I got to do it with Gary and Alex. N----s really went from running a bar show to working together at 30 rock! It’s a beautiful thing. Also I look caked up in that picture and I feel like it’s important for people to know what I got going on," he added.

Walker's message then concluded, "Anyway, I’m bout to go to Japan. When I get back I’m tryna be in a prestige drama. Ideally something with Julianne Moore. Hope y’all staying hydrated and getting some money today."

After the news first broke and began to circulate, Walker jumped back onto his Instagram Stories to add, "just to be clear, this is good news !! It was just time for me to do something different. please don't be hitting me with the 'im so sorry' we not on that at ALL. sometimes mom and dad don't see things eye to eye. i'll talk about the whole thing on My Favorite Lyrics [podcast] soon."

The podcast, which Walker launched in April, sees the comedian talking about music and musical influences with "people he thinks are cool."

Walker was still finding his place among the sprawling cast in this past season. Across his three years, he did bring several key impersonations, including New York Mayor Eric Adams, Michael Strahan, Frank Ocean, Shannon Sharpe, Draymond Green, and Von Jones.

The Season 50 cast of Saturday Night Live included Walker, Johnson, Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Andrew Dismukes, Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernández, Michael Longfellow, Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim, and Jane Wickline.

Season 51 is set to premiere on October 4.