Old cast members of “Saturday Night Live” Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah are not returning this Fall for the 42nd season of the show.
The comedians have been in the show for six seasons and are labelled as master impressionists of famous celebrities. Killam is best remembered for his portrayals of Matthew McConaughey, Brad Pitt and and Marco Rubio while Pharoah is best known for his enactments of Will Smith, Jay-Z and President Obama.
Pharoah hasn’t commented on his firing, but Killam, surprised with the news, expressed his sentiments in an interview with Uproxx.
“I was there for six years. I have not been anywhere in my life for six years. I don’t know that the end of something that you’ve committed that much time and energy to is ever going to feel “great” … You sign for seven years, so I had one more year," the comedian said.
"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.”
International Business Times reported that along with the departure of the two veteran cast members Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah, freshman cast member Jon Rudnitsky would also not be returning to the show. They aren’t the first cast members to be fired by “Saturday Night Live” boss, Lorne Michaels.
The long – running sketch series is known for terminating its previous cast members without them understanding as to why they were cut from the show. To recall, SNL’s previous big stars Adam Sandler and Chris Farley were dismissed from the show in 1995. Both were not given the reason as to why they were ousted.
It would have been nice if the show’s management had talked to their stars about their status on the show, but that has been SNL’s trademark since then.
