Cecily Strong claims she was “emotional” to revealing her “SNL” exit

• Cecily Strong is considering her decision to leave Saturday Night Live.
• The comic issued a farewell message on Instagram that looked back at her experience
• Strong would appear on her farewell SNL broadcast on Saturday.

Cecily Strong is considering her decision to leave Saturday Night Live. Following her final performance as a cast member over the weekend, the comic issued a farewell message on Instagram on Monday that looked back at her experience on the venerable NBC comedy sketch show.

Strong, 38, added a touching message to the Instagram caption of a clip from Saturday’s episode that showed her fellow SNL cast members and host Austin Butler singing along to Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas.”

“My heart is bursting,” she began. “I have a lot of big huge life-changing love to unpack, so this is what I can say tonight 💙”

“Ten and a half years ago I got my dream job,” she wrote. “The first actual work day I tried to be very cool and make it look like I knew what i was doing and I was supposed to be there. I left that night around 11 after saying goodbye to everyone. I got stuck wandering around the building because none of the elevators went to the first floor and I was trying so hard to avoid having to go back upstairs to ask for help because I’d already said goodbye!!!”

“I think I went to every floor trying to figure out if there was another exit I was missing. I might have even gone into a stairwell,” she continued. “I ended up going back upstairs and my soon-to-be great friend Colin Jost helped me out and walked me over to the secret nighttime elevator.”

She said, “And my amazing friend Colin Jost ended up assisting me again, this time by getting Elvis to sing me off (thank you Austin Butler you incredible sweet and generous dreamboat),” adding that “it felt as tough to leave that night as it does now.”

When speaking about her choice to leave the program, she said: “I apologize for keeping silent about it in public. I didn’t want to add more stress to a situation that was already quite emotional for me.”

“And I’m so grateful I got to have these wonderful past six shows to help me ease into it and get to meet and laugh and probably overly hug Molly [Kearney], Marcello [Hernandez], Devon [Walker], and Michael [Longfellow] who I think are not only brilliantly funny but really great humans,” she concluded. “I am ready to go, but I’ll always know home is here. I’ve had the time of my life working with the greatest people on earth.”

Strong would appear on her farewell SNL broadcast on Saturday, according to a post from last week on the show’s official Instagram account.

A picture of a sign with the words, “The caption read: “Tonight we send out one of the best to ever do it. We’ll miss you, Cecily. Cecily, we’ll miss you!”

In the 38th season of SNL, in September 2012, Strong made his debut. In September 2013—during season 39—she received a promotion to repertory player. (Kate McKinnon, 38, and Aidy Bryant, 35, who were also promoted the same season, have since departed the show.)

Strong became the female cast member with the longest tenure in the history of SNL with her return for season 48, her 11th overall, surpassing McKinnon.

Strong was nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series at the 72nd and 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2020 and 2021, respectively, while she was hosting the late-night program.

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