When Kanye West launched into a speech about his ideas on politics and the media after “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, longstanding cast member Kenan Thompson had already “departed” from the Studio 8H stage — thank goodness.
During a visit to “Late Night With Seth Meyers” on Monday, Thompson told his old cast mate he got to “watch the circus unfold” Saturday night.
“And so then when you saw what happened, were you so happy with the choice you’d made [to leave]?” Meyers asked. Thompson replied with an emphatic “for sure.”
“Yeah, he voiced his opinion very loudly. For a long time,” Thompson said. The comedian continued: “And you know, we’re all entitled to our opinions … I don’t know if that’s the moment necessarily to hold people hostage like that.”
“As soon as he said ‘hey, join me onstage, everybody,’ I was like ‘oh, there goes the little cheese in the mousetrap,’” Thompson said. “It’s going down. I felt so bad for those guys because it’s hard to stand there and not be able to, you know, debate somebody who’s going so far against, you know, your personal opinion as well and just stand there and take it …”
But he was also sure to note that “SNL” has had its fair share of “crazy” guests, and it’s up to the cast to make hosts and musicians that visit feel comfortable. “We’re not there to judge,” he told Meyers.
Following a surprise third song on Saturday and after the cameras stopped rolling, West launched into a speech about his public embrace of President Trump, slamming the media along the way. Videos have since surfaced online of the rapper being booed by the audience.
Watch Thompson’s interview with Meyers above.