Lindsay Shookus exits 'SNL' after 20 years

WASHINGTON: Producer Lindsay Shookus has left her longtime role as a producer on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." The six-time Emmy Award winner, who previously dated Ben Affleck after meeting on the show, departed after declining an offer to take on another role. On Friday, the 42-year-old six-time Emmy Award winner took to Instagram to announce her exit from the show.

"After 20 seasons at Saturday Night Live (and 415 live shows - I counted!), I have decided to trade in the wild late nightlife and move on from the show," she wrote in a lengthy caption of a photo of herself on set.

Shookus continued, "When I started in 2002, I was a baby from Buffalo, NY who didn't know anything about the business, except that I so badly wanted to be somehow part of it. I found my place at SNL and I've spent the past two decades developing the most incredible friendships and memories alongside some truly brilliant and talented people."

According to Fox News, the New Yorker went on to say that she had met Kevin Miller, her ex-husband and a former "SNL" producer, through her employment on the programme. They have a daughter named Maddie. "What could be a greater gift from my time at the show than my sweet, funny girl who makes every day brighter," Shookus wrote.

Shookus declared that she was eager for her upcoming move and intended to spend more time with Maddie. She continued by announcing that she would keep working with her Women Work F#cking Hard organisation and the SNL Diversity Scholarship, which she founded in 2020. The seasoned TV personality also thanked her coworkers and "SNL" founder and executive producer Lorne Michaels.

"I will be forever grateful to Lorne for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...thank you for your support, encouragement and freedom to bring my voice to this legendary stage," she said, adding: "Thank you to all the people that pushed, supported, taught, listened, valued and respected me throughout my crazy ride at the show."

Shookus concluded by saying that she doesn't know "exactly know what else the future holds for me" but she knows she is "headed someplace good."

According to a story from Page Six on Friday, Shookus turned down a job offer from the NBC sketch comedy programme, which is now undergoing a makeover in anticipation of its forthcoming 48th season. "Lindsay has been at the show for 20 years, she's been a producer since 2012. They're shaking things up," a source told the outlet.

The insider added, "She was offered another job on the show, but she decided to move on." Shookus began working in television in 2002 as an executive assistant, and in 2012 he was promoted to producer. As the head of the talent division at "SNL," she also scheduled hosts and musical guests and hired fresh talent.

Shookus once dated Ben Affleck, when the "Argo" actor hosted "SNL" for the fifth time in 2015, the two got to know one another. The divorce between Affleck and Jennifer Garner, his wife of ten years and age 50, was finalised in 2018.

Affleck and Shookus split in 2018 after going public with their relationship in 2017, just before the actor checked into treatment. Despite getting back together in the beginning of 2019, they parted ways in April.