Comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member Punkie Johnson says she won't be returning to the show for its 50th season this fall.
Johnson broke the news following a stand-up date at Brooklyn’s Union Hall on Wednesday evening, when an audience member asked her what she's looking forward to in what would have been her fifth season on the sketch show.
Johnson replied, "Oh, I'm not coming back."
Because her comment was abrupt, Johnson said she woke up on Thursday to texts and messages about it — so many that later Thursday evening she took to social media to clarify. "There's no bad blood, there's no bridges burned," she insisted.
"Bro, I love my people. I didn't think this was gonna be a big deal. This is why Dave Chappelle make people lock up their phones," she joked, referencing how the comedian doesn't allow people to shoot his stand-up shows.
"SNL was a dream that I didn't even know that I could achieve," she continued. "Man, I was part of one of the most elite institutions in comedy, and I'm so grateful. That's still my people."
Her video post got support from former cast members like Cecily Strong, and current ones including Chloe Fineman and Ego Nwodim, the latter of whom wrote, "Love you til the death of me Punkie!! Now get off instagram and whatever tf editing app you used and call me back please!"
Incidentally, it was recently announced that former SNL star Maya Rudolph will return to play Vice President Kamala Harris in the run-up to the 2024 election; Punkie had played Harris in a few sketches since joining SNL in 2020.
Meanwhile, Molly Kearney, who joined Saturday Night Live in 2022, just announced on Instagram "a wrap on my time on SNL," calling it "an honor."