{"id":190031,"date":"2025-08-30T21:42:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T21:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/30\/punkie-johnson-reacts-to-snl-cast-shake-up\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T21:42:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T21:42:26","slug":"punkie-johnson-reacts-to-snl-cast-shake-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/30\/punkie-johnson-reacts-to-snl-cast-shake-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Punkie Johnson Reacts to SNL Cast Shake-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>Saturday Night Live<\/em> alum <strong>Punkie Johnson<\/strong> is reacting to the show parting ways with several prominent \u2014 and beloved \u2014 cast members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cwtf is happening\u2026 This is like the departed\u2026 My sexy handsome work husband\u2026 I love you so much\u2026I\u2019ll call you\u2026\u201d Johnson, 40, wrote in the comments section of a Thursday, August 28, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thesnlnetwork\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram post<\/a> announcing that <em>SNL<\/em> had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/entertainment\/news\/michael-longfellow-exits-snl-amid-cast-shake-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">parted ways with <strong>Michael Longfellow<\/strong><\/a> after three seasons. \u201cWelcome back outside baby\u2026. I\u2019ll see you out here soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson \u2014 who was on <em>SNL<\/em> for four seasons from 2020 to 2024 \u2014 seemed as surprised as the rest of <em>Us<\/em> after SNL announced it has parted ways with several cast members, including <strong>Emil Wakim<\/strong>, <strong>Heidi Gardner<\/strong>, <strong>Devon Walker<\/strong> and <em>SNL<\/em> writer <strong>Rosebud Baker<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo me, jobs in this industry feel like a bunch of little marriages. Some of em last for a long time if we\u2019re lucky, but most of them are fleeting. Permanent until they\u2019re not. That\u2019s the deal. You know what it is it when you sign up,\u201d Walker, 34, wrote via Instagram, announcing his exit from the show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMe and the show did three years together, and sometimes it was really cool. Sometimes it was toxic as hell. But we did what we made the most of what it was, even amidst all of the dysfunction. We made a f***ed up lil family,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnyway, I\u2019m bout to go to Japan. When I get back I\u2019m tryna be in a prestige drama. Ideally something with <strong>Julianne Moore<\/strong>. Hope y\u2019all staying hydrated and getting some money today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson commented on Walker\u2019s exit, writing in the comments section of an Instagram post about the comedian\u2019s departure, \u201cWelcome back Dev. It\u2019s fun outside baby\u2026 love u.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DN6kTw8DyE3\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Johnson also sent well wishes to Gardner, 42, who is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/entertainment\/news\/heidi-gardner-exits-snl-after-8-seasons-ahead-of-season-51\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">leaving the show<\/a> after eight seasons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAhhhhhh Lawd not my Heidi,\u201d Johnson wrote in the comments section of an Instagram post dedicated to Gardner, shared following the news of her surprising exit. \u201cThis probly [sic] the biggest surprise of this \u2018shake up\u2019 Heidi you are my shining star\u2026 You had a great run and I admire everything about you. CONGRATULATIONS HEIDI\u2026 YOU ARE AN SNL LEGEND FOR LIFE\u2026 See you outside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson seemed especially surprised that Wakim, 27, was leaving <em>SNL<\/em> after only one season on the show.<\/p>\n<div id=\"news-block\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-form  \">\n<div class=\"newsletter-signup__success\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<h3>Thank You!<\/h3>\n<p>You have successfully subscribed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"link-related article link-related__with-thumb\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article__thumbnail related-ab-test\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/entertainment\/news\/devon-walker-announces-exit-from-snl-sometimes-it-was-toxic\/\" target=\"\" data-source=\"01\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<figure class=\"article__figure\">\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%;\" class=\"ratio-based-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"article__content\">\n<h3 class=\"article__title\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article__title-link related-ab-test\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/entertainment\/news\/devon-walker-announces-exit-from-snl-sometimes-it-was-toxic\/\" target=\"\" data-source=\"01\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    <span class=\"related-badge\">Related: <\/span><span class=\"related-title\">Devon Walker Announces Exit From &#8216;SNL&#8217;: &#8216;Sometimes It Was Toxic&#8217;\u00a0<\/span><\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n\t\t\tDevon Walker is leaving Saturday Night Live. The comedian, 34, announced his departure via Instagram on Monday, August 25, posting a selfie in front of a flatscreen TV that showed the NBC sketch comedy\u2019s logo. \u201cMe and my baby broke up \u2764\ufe0f,\u201d Walker captioned the post. He had joined SNL as a featured player in [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cYou beautiful man\u2026 this is a shocker to us all I\u2019m sure,\u201d Johnson wrote in the comments section of another Instagram post. \u201cWe should stand at the doors of 30 Rock and act a fool for you\u2026 Keep your head up baby\u2026 Let\u2019s play outside.. it\u2019s been fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for Johnson, the former cast member described her leaving <em>SNL<\/em> as \u201ca neutral thing\u201d while appearing on the \u201cFly on the Wall\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy February of last season, I was like, nope, I\u2019m done,\u201d the comedian recalled at the time. \u201cThe season before that, I questioned it, I talked to my team, like, \u2018I don\u2019t really know if I belong at this job, so maybe I should step away.\u2019 I told them super, super late, right after I found out I\u2019d get to go back. They\u2019re like, \u2018Punkie, you need a plan, you can\u2019t just quit your job!&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/entertainment\/news\/punkie-johnson-reacts-to-snl-cast-shake-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saturday Night Live alum Punkie Johnson is reacting to the show parting ways with several prominent \u2014 and beloved \u2014 cast members. \u201cwtf is happening\u2026 This is like the departed\u2026 My sexy handsome work husband\u2026 I love you so much\u2026I\u2019ll call you\u2026\u201d Johnson, 40, wrote in the comments section of a Thursday, August 28, Instagram [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":190032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-190031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}