Chloe Troast Details ‘SNL’ Exit for the First Time in Moving Speech at the 2024 Club Cosmo Awards

· Cosmopolitan

When 27-year-old Chloe Troast joined Saturday Night Live's ranks last year, she delightfully disrupted the traditional variety show with her impressive vocal range and breakout sketch, Little Orphan Cassidy. While Chloe ultimately didn't return for SNL's next season, the future ahead is exceptionally bright. And she knows it.

On October 24, Chloe took the stage at the Refinery Rooftop at Domino in Brooklyn to accept a 2024 Club Cosmo Award—an honor from Cosmopolitan, UTA Next Gen, and ZCON, highlighting the brands, creators, and trends paving ways for future generations to come—and her speech moved the room.

"About a month ago, I found out I wouldn't be returning to my dream job on Saturday Night Live. Very Gen Z of me to get fired," she said while accepting the Club Cosmo Award. "There are not a lot of people in this world that can relate to you when you lose a job like Saturday Night Live, besides maybe Adam Sandler, Jenny Slate, Michaela Watkins, Joan Cusack, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Robert Downey Jr, Billy Crystal... but no way you know their names. Even so, I felt broken. And who better than my ex-dressing room roommate [Molly Kearney] to call me, get me out of bed, and help me see the forest through the trees. Literally, they helped me get out of the city and I spent a month in nature. Touched grass. Gained some perspective. SNL was my dream, and now I have a lot of time to dream new dreams."

Chloe concluded by telling a story:

"There's a quick story that I heard from [the podcast] Poog... There's a story of a man whose horse escaped and his neighbors sympathized with the man's misfortune, and he replied, "Good luck, bad luck–who knows? A week later his horse returned, bringing him another horse from the wild. The neighbors rejoiced for the man, and the man responded, "Good luck, bad luck–who knows?" The man's son attempted to tame the horse. He fell off, breaking his leg, and the neighbors mourned for the boy but the man replied, "Good luck, bad luck—who knows?" A week later, they were drafting a new war and the son was unable to fight because of his injury. The neighbors said how lucky the man was to keep his son out of harm's way. The man replied, "Good luck, bad luck—who knows?" Who knows, guys? Who knows what's in store for all of us? I love you all. Thank you very much."

Chloe's former SNL dressing roommate Molly Kearney introduced her to the stage, reminiscing over Kenan Thompson and Emma Stone’s jaws dropping over Chloe's singing. “I think SNL was just opening the door for other people to know who she was and is,” Molly said. (Chloe immediately returned the love when given the mic, saying, "Molly is not only hilarious, smart, and kind but also a lifesaver.")

Ilya S. Savenok//Getty Images

“I want my audience to sense the joy I have in making things,” Chloe told Cosmo ahead of the awards ceremony. “I used to make a lot of stuff that just went out into the ether. Like, weird stuff that only my friends liked. But now there are a lot more people there. I hope they feel like an extension of my friends. I’ve needed extra support recently and they were definitely there for me.”

Chloe is one of 10 Club Cosmo honorees in the Creator category with other Gen Z icons like Aaron Rose Philip, Avantika, and Chi Ossé.