‘SNL’ Alum Chris Redd Addresses Claims Former Costar Kenan Thompson Orchestrated 2022 Assault

Saturday Night Live alum Chris Redd has addressed speculation that his former costar Kenan Thompson allegedly assaulted him in 2022.

“Kenan did not hit me,” Redd, 40, told TMZ photographers on Thursday, January 15. “People took it like Kenan hit me. He didn’t hit me.”

Redd was also asked if he thought that Thompson, 47, could have been involved in the incident.

“Listen, man, I found out who did it,” he told the outlet when questioned about whether Thompson orchestrated the attack. “It is what it is. That’s it.”

Thompson has not publicly addressed Redd’s remarks. Us Weekly has reached out for comment.

Redd was punched outside New York City’s Comedy Store in 2022, according to Entertainment Weekly. The outlet, citing an NYPD report, claimed that Redd was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital but there has not been a further update in the investigation.

Redd starred alongside Thompson on SNL from 2017 to 2022. After Redd’s exit from the variety series, he started dating Thompson’s ex-wife, Christina Evangeline.

“Christina and Chris started dating [at] the beginning of this year,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in September 2022, noting the duo met before Redd joined SNL. “They’ve always been very close. He was there for her last year through some of the hardest times of her life. She seems to be the happiest she’s ever been. Her relationship with Chris is great and it’s normal.”

The insider further stressed that Evangeline’s romance with Redd didn’t cause any bad blood with Thompson.

“Conversations had been had and everyone in their circle knew about the relationship prior to the news being released,” the source told Us. “Kenan’s dating other people [too]. He wishes her happiness.”

Thompson, the longest-running SNL cast member, and Evangeline, 36, were married from 2011 to 2020. Us broke the news in April 2022 that their breakup was mutual.

Thompson and Evangeline share daughters Georgia, 11, and Gianna, 7, and now amicably coparent their children. As the girls have gotten older, they’ve also started understanding their famous dad’s career.

“They’ve seen the Good Burger [movies]. They enjoyed them. I’m not sure if they’ve watched the shows necessarily,” Thompson exclusively told Us in April 2025. “They haven’t really expressed that, but yeah, they told me that they liked Good Burger, so it holds up.”

According to Thompson, Georgia and Gianna also keep up with a handful of his SNL sketches.

“I mean, they’re still little, so we have to, kind of, watch what they are allowed to watch,” he said. “They dig it, they think it’s cool [and my older daughter] gets very mad at me when I don’t tell her that certain people are on the show.”

He recalled that Georgia particularly fangirled over Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande’s respective hosting stints, and that his two kids also are lucky enough to meet certain stars when they stop by the SNL studio.

“Sometimes [I bring them to set], especially for a person that I would assume that they would be excited to see,” he told Us. “I want to share that with them.”