So close. Pete Davidson was set to make his Saturday Night Live hosting debut on Saturday, May 6, but his episode with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert has been canceled.
“SNL will air repeats until further notice,” NBC announced on Tuesday, May 2, as the Writers Guild of America officially went on strike.
The work stoppage commenced earlier on Tuesday and started with New York City guild members picketing outside NBC’s Manhattan offices. Saturday Night Live is known for an intense writing schedule, with sketches being written in the days leading up to their live broadcast. Other shows, such as HBO’s House of the Dragon, have scripts finished and plan to continue filming (though without a writer on set for last-minute changes, which is unusual).
SNL veteran Aidy Bryant and current cast member Sarah Sherman were both spotted on the picket line to show their support.
Davidson, for his part, hinted that he knew the cancellation was coming. The WGA voted in April to authorize a strike if a deal couldn’t be reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) by Monday, May 1.
“It’s really funny, you know, Lorne [Michaels, executive producer] told me a couple months ago [that I was hosting], but then, this week, as you know, the writers strike might happen. So I’ve been working on this for like two, three months, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, we’ll know Monday if it’s happening or not,'” the 29-year-old explained during his April 28 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Though Jimmy Fallon reminded Davidson that a strike was not guaranteed, Davidson joked that it was definitely happening. “It sucks because it just feeds my weird story I have in my head, like, ‘Of course that would happen to me. They didn’t want me. It’s all about me!'” the Bupkis star quipped.
The actor admitted he was “terrified” to host SNL despite being a cast member for eight seasons. He left in 2022, but Davidson said being a host was way harder than his weekly gig on the show.
“I’m terrified because I just went there to hang out,” the Staten Island native told Fallon. “There’s a lot of new guys and gals … that show is hard! I had a weird little gig there because I would just do my thing once in a while, and they would let me do whatever. But I was like, ‘You guys work really hard. This is a lot of work.’ I was like, ‘I’m [going to] be in more than one sketch. That’s crazy.'”
The night before his episode was canceled, Davidson was seen at another cultural institution in New York City: the Met Gala. He wore Fendi to the big fundraiser — which was themed to the “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” exhibit — and was later seen smiling while catching up with ex-girlfriend Kim Kardashian.
