Bowen Yang confessed that it’s not all laughs backstage at Studio 8H.
During the Sunday, August 11, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Yang, 33, was asked while playing a game of “Truth or Kink” to share — without naming names — the “worst behavior” he had witnessed while working as a cast member on Saturday Night Live.
“This man who… this person, this host made multiple cast members cry on Wednesday before the table-read,” Yang claimed, “because he hated the ideas.”
Yang did not specify which host he was referring to, but the comedian has been on the show since 2018 — meaning there dozens of male stars who could be the culprit.
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Sunday’s WWHL isn’t the first time Yang has had to address an awkward moment on the NBC variety series. In January, eagle-eyed viewers noticed that Dave Chappelle appeared on stage while host Dakota Johnson was saying her final goodbyes for the evening alongside fellow cast members. Yang, for his part, stood far off in the corner, away from Chappelle, with his arms tightly crossed.
Fans then began to wonder if Yang’s positioning was in response to Chappelle’s past transphobic and anti-LGBTQIA+ jokes. During his 2021 Netflix special, Chappelle said that he is “not hat fond” of “newer gays,” labeling them as “too sensitive.” He also referred to himself as a “TERF,” a term that refers to a trans-exclusionary radical feminist — and specifically addressed the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I stand where I always stand on [goodnights],” Yang said of the incident during a June interview with Variety. “It was not a physical distance that anyone was creating. It had to do with so many things that were completely internal.”
When asked whether he was happy with Chappelle’s random appearance, Yang replied, “It was about other people’s response in the show. I was just confused, that was it.”
Other former SNL cast members have also spoken of tension backstage over the years. Chevy Chase had multiple run-ins with his costars while starring on the first two seasons of the show and during his subsequent guest appearances. In 2018, Pete Davidson claimed that Chase — who was part of the original cast — was a “genuinely bad, racist person.”
“He’s a f—king d—hebag,” Davidson, who starred on SNL from seasons 40 to 47, said during an episode of The Howard Stern Show. “I don’t like him. He’s a putz.”
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Davidson — who was part of the cast during Chase’s 2015 SNL appearance but did not share any scenes with the Community alum — was responding to a Washington Post profile Chase had done about iconic comedy series. In the piece, Chase claimed that the show had gone “downhill” in recent years.
“It’s disrespectful to Lorne, too, a guy who gave you a career,” Davidson said in defense of creator Lorne Michaels. “No matter how big you get, you can’t forget what that guy did for you.”
Chase later responded to Davidson’s comments during a 2022 CBS interview, saying, “I don’t give a crap! I am who I am. And I like … who I am. I don’t care. And it’s part of me that I don’t care. And I’ve thought about that a lot. And I don’t know what to tell you, man. I just don’t care.”
