Saturday Night Live cast members Devon Walker and Michael Longfellow have canceled a pair of stand-up dates in Philadelphia this weekend in a show of support for striking and terminated staffers at the venue they were set to perform.
The pair’s cancellation comes less than a week after several employees at Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live—spanning guest services, food and beverage, and box office—walked out during a performance by Suzanne Vega, accusing the venue’s new management of fostering a hostile work environment and failing to deliver timely, accurate pay. Management responded the next day by terminating a dozen staffers and banning them from the venue.
“In light of the labor dispute at the venue, we have decided to cancel the Philly show this weekend,” Walker wrote in an Instagram story today. “We’re working on getting another date in the city later this year.”
World Cafe Live has not publicly commented on Walker and Longfellow’s decision, and as of Wednesday evening, the listing for their show on the venue’s website had not been updated to reflect the cancellation. (In an Instagram story of his own this afternoon, Longfellow directed ticketholders to the the venue for refunds.)
The duo joins a growing list of performers distancing themselves from World Cafe Live amid the venue’s ongoing labor dispute. Rapper Rae.Dianz and punk group The Taxpayers both pulled out of scheduled dates for next weekend, and a Jill Sobule tribute show planned for this weekend has also been cancelled, with organizers writing, “Jill and the artists playing tribute to her would not cross a picket line.”
Walker and Longfellow, who both joined SNL in its 48th season, launched separate summer stand-up tours this month. In addition to this weekend’s now-cancelled Philly shows, the duo will be co-headlining shows in Las Vegas July 11th and and 12th.
