“Saturday Night Live” star Michael Che said Friday that he was planning to leave his anchor position on “Weekend Update” but is now publicly back-tracking on his comments.
“This is my last year,” Che, 38, said during a pop-show in Minneapolis, according to the Star Tribune. Che has worked the anchor desk of “Weekend Update” alongside Colin Jost for eight years. “You know my tie is a clip-on, right? What man wears a clip-on tie to work for eight years — that’s embarrassing,” Che joked, according to the report.
However, Che dismissed the reports in an Instagram post Sunday, writing “im not leaving SNL. … i said it at a comedy show, and some dork transcribed it & wrote an article.” (RELATED: ‘SNL’ Star Michael Che Admits He’s Never Called 911 Because ‘They’re Not For Me’ In Interview Following Floyd’s Death)
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“also, i don’t prefer jerking off to sex. and im not actually buying a urinal for my house. those were just jokes as well,” Che clarified in the post. He captioned the post, “to comedy fans; please stop telling reporters everything you hear at a comedy show. youre spoiling the trick.”
In January, Che surpassed Seth Meyers for having the most appearances in the anchor position, excluding Jost, who technically has more, the Star Tribute noted. In 2017, he became the first black co-head writer of the show after he and Jost were promoted, Vice News reported.
During the “provocative” pop-up show at a local Minneapolis hair salon, Che made a series of jokes about his career. “Did you guys think I was gonna talk about the news?” Che asked the audience, according to the Star Tribune. “I don’t really do jokes. If I had jokes, I would have, like, booked a theatre. I’m in a beauty shop.”