Following Saturday Night Live’s mass cast exodus before and during Season 51 last year, Season 52 will see even more changes. Ahead of the premiere on the 2026 TV schedule, SNL had its first cast exit of the year, with Chloe Fineman officially bowing out after seven years. She’s now revealing how she broke the news to Lorne Michaels, and it couldn’t have come at a more awkward time.Fineman decided to leave SNL after being offered a role in David E. Kelley’s upcoming Netflix series, Myron Bolitar. The decision reportedly wasn’t easy, and what was even more difficult was telling her boss. The comedian told Variety that when she called Michaels to inform him that she would be departing, he was apparently enjoying the World Cup, and I can only imagine what it was like:He was watching England vs. Argentina. He was doing the coolest thing in the world with the coolest people. He was like, ‘I’ll call you back. I’m at the game.’ And I was like, ‘The soccer game?’ And I made a joke, ‘I assume you’re rooting for England because you’re energetically very British?’ I have to give props to Fineman for building up the courage to call Michaels (who can probably be very intimidating) to tell him that she’s not coming back to Saturday Night Live. But the fact that she did it while he was watching the World Cup is pretty horrible timing. He’s having a good time, watching the game, and then he gets a call from a cast member telling him they’re leaving the show. It likely put a damper on the game, and not just because England ended up losing.It’s pretty awkward to call your boss during a World Cup game, even if you didn’t know, and tell them that you’re quitting while also trying to make light of the situation. Luckily, Fineman revealed that it wasn’t all awkward. The two of them had a good conversation after all was said and done, and there doesn’t seem to be any hard feelings about it, other than the fact that Michaels lost twice that day:But he called me back, and we had a really lovely chat. Considering SNL has been airing for over five decades, I’m sure there have been phone calls about cast exits that have been a lot worse than Fineman’s. At the very least, it sounds like she and Michaels were able to have a good chat, which likely squashed any awkwardness that was still left over from when she called during the game. With Season 52 premiering this fall, it’s possible Fineman won’t be the last exit. Over the years, there have been a handful of rumors as to who could be leaving SNL and who could be staying, and you never truly know until it’s announced. Even after the cast is confirmed, things could always change throughout the season. For instance, Bowen Yang departed after the Christmas show last year. If anything, with the World Cup over and Spain taking it all, the next time a cast member exits, they don’t have to worry about interrupting Michaels at a game to tell him the news.