Pete Davidson’s ‘SNL’ episode scrapped amid writers strike

“Saturday Night Live” will go dark this weekend amid the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America.

“The previously announced ‘Saturday Night Live’ hosted by Pete Davidson and musical guest Lil Uzi Vert is cancelled due to the writers’ strike,” NBC announced in a media alert.

The scheduled episode was slated to be Davidson’s grand return to the comedy show as a host, with rapper Lil Uzi Vert as the musical guest. Now, “SNL” will only be airing repeats beginning May 6.

The Post reached out to NBC representatives for comment but was directed to their press release.

The strike doesn’t just affect “SNL” – production on late night talk shows manned by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers has halted in the meantime.

The cancellation comes amid a strike by the 11,500 members of the WGA, which began after the union’s contract expired and negotiations with studios remained in limbo.

The board of directors for WGA voted unanimously to call for a strike – Hollywood’s first in 15 years — claiming that writers have faced difficulties securing steady jobs.

“The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” a statement from the labor union reads.

“From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a ‘day rate’ in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession.”

In light of the major transformations within the industry – such as the proliferation of streaming giants – WGA argues that workers’ compensation needs to reflect such changes.

But the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, who sit opposite the strike, claimed it gave writers “generous increases in compensation” and “improvements in streaming residuals.”

The alliance, which acts as a bargaining representative, said it was previously willing to improve the offer, “but was unwilling to do so because the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon.”

In addition to fair wages, the union is attempting to negotiate stricter regulations on the use of AI amid fears of the advanced technology decimating jobs.

Hollywood writers last went on strike in 2007 that lasted 100 days. It is unclear how long the current strike will last.

On Friday’s episode of “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” the talk show host, who is also a member of WGA, voiced his support for the union’s demands, but cautioned viewers at home of what’s to come.

“It doesn’t just affect the writers, it affects all the incredible non-writing staff on these shows,” he said in the episode. “And it would really be a miserable thing for people to have to go through, especially considering we’re on the heels of that awful pandemic that affected, not just show business, but all of us.”