NEW YORK — The Hollywood writers strike has forced “Saturday Night Live” to cancel its upcoming episode with alum Pete Davidson, and possibly future episodes.
The Writers Guild of America officially called their strike at midnight May 2, and late night programming is already feeling the repercussions.
It was reported Tuesday that NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” have both gone dark for the time being due to the strike. Now “SNL will air repeats until further notice starting Saturday, May 6,” the network said in a statement.
The NBC sketch comedy show was scheduled to air new live episodes during each of the following three weeks, before beginning its summer hiatus.
May 6 was supposed to see Pete Davidson make a return to 30 Rockefeller Center, with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert, but it’s now unclear if or when they’ll make an appearance on the show.
Davidson’s hosting was supposed to coincide with the debut of his new Peacock series “Bupkis,” which stars Davidson as a fictionalized version of himself. It would have been his first time hosting “SNL” since leaving the show last May after eight seasons as a cast member.
“SNL” participated in a previous WGA strike, which took place from 2007-08, and didn’t return to the air until 11 days after the strike ended.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, NBC sent out an automated listings email Tuesday which mistakenly said a new “SNL” was on for this weekend, until a second “Disregard” message followed shortly after.
