'Saturday Night Live' Paid Audience Members $150 To Attend The Season Opener Over The Weekend

A new report has come just days after the season premiere of Saturday Night Live and claims that the audience members who were there were actually paid.

The NY Times reports that the socially distanced audience didn’t get tickets to be there, rather they were considered part of the cast for the season opener, which welcomed Chris Rock and Megan Thee Stallion as host and musical guest.

The reason for this has to do with the state guidelines for reopening amid the pandemic. The guidelines actually prohibit live audiences at TV tapings, unless, however, they’re paid as members of the cast.

A state health department official confirmed to the Times that SNL had followed the guidelines by “casting” the audience, and paying them as they would performers.

The audience members were apparently given checks for $150 following the taping, after taking rapid COVID-19 virus tests. The check was a surprise for all of them.

One of the audience members, Sean Ludwig, shared that the audience “had no idea we would be paid before we were handed checks. We were all very pleasantly surprised.”

This past weekend’s episode featured Chloe Fineman‘s impression of Drew Barrymore, the debut of Jim Carrey‘s Joe Biden, and Megan calling out the Kentucky Attorney General.