Taran Killam & Jay Pharoah Out At SNL, Contracts Not Picked Up

taran killam jay pharoah snl

When Saturday Night Live returns for its 42nd season, it will be without two veteran cast members. TV Line reported that Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah will not be returning to SNL for the new fall season. An NBC spokesperson confirmed the report.

The shocking part of these players leaving SNL is that this wasn’t their decision. Killam and Pharoah were told their contracts were not being picked up for the next season. After 6 seasons, Taran Killam had every intention of returning for that final contract year. He is currently making his directorial film debut with “Why We’re Killing Gunther” with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Killam says there may have been some overlap with his SNL schedule, but he had gotten approval to do it.

Taran Killam is still slightly confused himself about how and why this exactly went down. He told Uproxx.com, “I don’t know fully. I don’t know the other side of it. You sign for seven years, so I had one more year. I had sort of had it in my head I would make this upcoming year my last year, but then heard they weren’t going to pick up my contract. I was never given a reason why, really. I can assume until the cows come home. But I do know I’m directing this movie and I’ll have two months of post-production that would have bled into the SNL production schedule, so we kind of communicated that.”

It’s hard to believe that executive producer Lorne Michaels would make this move seeing how Killam was a major utility player on Saturday Night Live, appearing in a majority of sketches. He’s also known for his characters and impersonations which included Matthew McConaughey, Marco Rubio and Fox & Friends’ Steve Doocy. In a tweet put out Tuesday morning, Taran Killam thanked his fans and gave a humorous reason for his departure which could be a sarcastic swipe at the SNL EP.

As far as Jay Pharoah is concerned, his contract also wasn’t picked up for another season. Pharoah joined the cast the same year as Taran Killam, so we can assume he also had one season left on his deal as well. Jay Pharoah was an impersonation machine. His impressive list of impressions included Chris Rock, Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Katt Williams, Morgan Freeman, Will Smith and of course, President Barack Obama. The timing of Jay Pharoah leaving the show comes close to matching up with the timing of the President leaving office. Coincidence??

Taran Killam will have his Schwarzenegger movie to work on. He also has the movie “Brother Nature” coming out next month with fellow cast members Bobby Moynihan and Kenan Thompson. Jay Pharoah will still be doing stand up dates around the country and has the animated comedies “Sing” and “The Adventures of Drunky” coming out.

 

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