‘SNL’ Exits Begin as First Departure Announced Ahead of Season 51

After five years, one Saturday Night Live writer is parting ways with the sketch comedy series.

Several reports of SNL stars departing have released today after Lorne Michaels announced last week that the cast would be shaken up, and one of the first was writer Celeste Yim.

Yim made history when they joined the SNL team in 2020 as the first out trans writer on the series, and was promoted to the series’ writing supervisor in 2023.

They revealed the news of their departure via an Instagram post.

“After five seasons, I’m leaving my job at Saturday Night Live. Lorne hired me over the phone when I was 23 and the job literally made all of my dreams come true BUT it was also grueling and I slept in my office every week BUT my friends helped me with everything BUT I got yelled at by random famous men BUT some famous girls too BUT I loved it and I laughed every day and it’s where I grew up,” they wrote.

They joked that they “hate when other people say this” but acknowledged how monumental it felt to be SNL‘s first out trans writer.

“I always felt honored to be working within the long tradition of queer writing at the show. Many don’t know this but Chevy is non-binary!,” Yim wrote, jokingly. “I feel so powerless to protect trans people in the world but writing connects us and makes us permanent, so it’s what I will continue to do.”

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Yim, who regularly collaborates with series star Bowen Yang, shouted him out for “changing my life and making me feel normal,” and thanked their family and friends who “love me still even though I did not see them very much.”

“As a kid, I was addicted to SNL and to SNL writers… I try to imagine my younger self learning about me,” Yim wrote. “I would be amazed. But then I’d be like… Wait, why are you dressed like that…”