Saturday Night Live has managed to find a replacement musical guest for Bill Burr’s hosting debut on October 10: Jack White. The NBC show announced this morning that White, who is releasing The White Stripes Greatest Hits on December 4, will be making his third appearance as a solo musical guest and fourth overall; he performed with Meg White as the White Stripes on the show in 2002.
Originally, SNL had scheduled country musician Morgan Wallen as the musical guest for Burr’s episode, but earlier this week, videos on Twitter and TikTok began to circulate of Wallen partying in crowded spaces without a mask and kissing while in Tuscaloosa, Alabama — just a week before his scheduled SNL performance at 30 Rock, which has COVID protocols in place in an attempt to protect cast, crew, and the audience from the pandemic. On October 7, Wallen announced on Instagram that he got a call from SNL telling him he was no longer invited to perform. “I respect the show’s decision because I know I put them in jeopardy, and I take ownership for this,†Wallen said in the video. “I’d like to apologize to SNL, to my fans, to my team for bringing me these opportunities, and I let them down. And on a more personal note, I think I have some growing up to do.â€
SNL recently released its first batch of promos with Burr and Kenan Thompson, which were apparently filmed before the show locked Jack White in: “Hey, Kenan, maybe they’ll let me do my music, too?†Burr says. “I heard a clear no,†Thompson responds.