SNL’s Bowen Yang Deletes Post Taking Subtle Shot at Show For Featuring Nikki Haley in Cold Open

NBC

Former UN Ambassador and current Republican president candidate Nikki Haley made a surprise appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, but it’s possible that not everyone was too enthusiastic about her being there.

Bowen Yang, who has become one of the most popular cast members on the show, posted a photo to Instagram after Saturday’s show of a card that welcomed Haley to the hallowed halls of Studio 8H reading:

Amb. Haley –

Welcome to Studio 8H!

From Lorne + Everyone at SNL

Yang’s comment on the post: “everyone! :)”

Here’s a screengrab of the photo — because Yang seems to have deleted his post:

Bowen Yang (@fayedunaway) on Instagram

It originally appeared to be a possible knock on Haley, who is a conservative who has had some very public gaffes, several of which were addressed in the cold open. But it could have also been seen as a knock on the show’s executive producer Lorne Michaels for having her on in the first place.

Hours after posting it, it appears that Yang took it down.

SNL often takes heat for inviting politicians to appear on the show, and former President Donald Trump’s hosting gig in 2015, after he announced his presidential run, was viewed as a disaster by the cast members at the time. As former cast member Taran Killam told NPR in 2017: “It was rough. It was not enjoyable at the time and something that only grows more embarrassing and shameful as time goes on.”

They can’t all be John McCain, the late Republican senator from Arizona who hosted the show twice, once right before he lost the 2008 election to former President Barack Obama.