‘Saturday Night Live’ Star Devon Walker Leaves Show, Says It Was ‘Toxic as Hell’ at Times

Devon Walker announced that he would not be returning for the upcoming season of Saturday Night Live and confessed that, at times, his experience as a cast member could have been better.

“Me and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell. But we… made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction. We made a f**ked up lil family,” Walker, 34, wrote in a message shared via Instagram on Monday, August 25, that he titled, “Wait…Did He Quit or Did He Get Fired?”

The comic also included a photo of himself backstage at the long-running sketch comedy show as well as a screenshot of a text message that read, “I’m out” followed by the partying face emoji.

Walker was the first SNL cast member to announce his departure from the show ahead of its 51st season. It came on the heels of showrunner Lorne Michaels revealing in an interview with Puck News that there would be shakeups ahead.

“Last season, when we were at the party of the first show, quarter of four in the morning, Dana [Carvey, who played Joe Biden] comes over to me and says, ‘I don’t think anyone knows you called me June 4 [to play Biden],’” Michaels, 80, told the outlet in an interview published on August 22. “I wanted people coming back and being part of [the 50th season]. So when Kate [McKinnon] hosted, Kristen [Wiig] and Maya [Rudolph] came back for it… that meant there couldn’t be those kind of disruptions [to the cast], or anything that was going to take the focus off [the 50th season]. And we had an election.”

When asked if he felt pressured to reinvent the upcoming season, Michaels replied, “Yeah, for sure. It’ll be announced in a week or so.”

Saturday Night Live season 51 is set to premiere on October 4.