Elon Musk will host this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live. No one is looking forward to it, but I imagine people will tune in to see the trainwreck. There’s this thing in American culture where we believe that rich people are brilliant or interesting, like they have to be special in all ways to have gotten so rich. When the reality is, a lot of rich, successful people are social morons or complete idiots when it comes to everything other than their specific field. This is the case with Elon Musk – he’s an idiot who tries to be cool online and he’s really just a guy who started out on third base and thinks he hit a triple. He’s also kind of anti-mask, anti-vaxx and anti-union, on top of everything else. So… yeah, as it turns out, not even SNL cast members are looking forward to this week.
“Saturday Night Live” cast members won’t be forced to appear alongside controversial billionaire Elon Musk when he hosts the show, Page Six is told.
“Speaking historically, if a cast member has been that unhappy, they don’t have to do it,” a source told us. “[‘SNL’ boss Lorne Michaels] won’t ever make them do anything they don’t want to do.”
The Tesla founder, 49, is set to helm the NBC institution on May 8 — but some cast members have made it clear that they’re less than enthused by the prospect of having him on stage at Studio 8H. After Musk tweeted, “Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is,” cast member Bowen Yang wrote: “What the f–k does this even mean?”
Meanwhile, writer Andrew Dismukes posted on Instagram: “Only CEO I want to do a sketch with is Cher-E Oteri,” over a photo of “SNL” alum Cheri Oteri. Longtime cast member Aidy Bryant shared a message that many perceived to be a dig at Musk too. The “Shrill” star, 33, reposted a tweet by Sen. Bernie Sanders that called it a “moral obscenity” that “the 50 wealthiest people in America today own more wealth than the bottom half of our people.”
As for Michael Che, the “Weekend Update” host, 37, joked to Jimmy Fallon this week that he hopes the billionaire will uphold the “SNL” tradition of hosts giving “a couple million dollars” to each cast member. Miley Cyrus has also been blasted for signing up to perform on Musk’s episode after some fans claimed online that he’s “destroying the planet” and doesn’t like women.
No cast members have pulled out of the show yet, we’re told. The source added: “Whether you like him or not, Elon is a very interesting character. … He’s very much a showman.”
Instead of forcing Elon Musk to do skits, they should just devote the entire show to Bowen Yang being interviewed about what went down with Elon during the week. I bet that would be a million times funnier than whatever Elon tries to do. As for the idea that some cast members or writers might skip this show, sources told The Wrap that as of this moment, no one is sitting out this episode, but sources confirm that Lorne Michaels is fine if anyone wants to skip. I don’t know, maybe Lorne should just stop stunt-casting douchebags as guest hosts?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, social media.
My dad is really into all things space-related and swears Musk comes across as a lot more normal in documentaries and stuff that he seems on social media. I kinda doubt that, but we’ll see.
Nothing good will come from normalizing this asshole.
Hmmmm…. what happened the *last* time they did that… anyone? Bueller? Bueller???
Wouldn’t it be a scream if on show night NONE of the cast showed up! lol. (Of course, they’d probably lose their jobs, but DAMN, it’d make a statement!).
So what happens if no one shows up? For this to have happened a lot of people must of protested. I feel like this show is going to be Che, Jost, and Pete Davidson….yikes.
I hope they all skip it.
I know they won’t because a few of the cast members are total dude-bros who identify with Musk and probably wish they could be like him. but my hope is that EVERY woman and most of the men don’t participate.
and I really REALLY hope that Miley drops out.
Elon Musk desperately wants to be a pop culture icon but he will never be cool enough.
Hee. When he showed up in Iron Man 2, folks in my theater were “Who’s that?” He _wishes_ he were Tony Stark–or RDJr.🤣😈😎
” he’s really just a guy who started out on third base and thinks he hit a triple” Can someone please explain? Is he not self-made? Or did he also get a “small loan from his father”?
He comes from a south african wealthy family. I believe it’s an emerald mine his family owns?
More important than the emerald mine, which was a single share, is that his father was extensively involved with construction during apartheid, the main source of family funding. Elon’s status as a white man allowed him to immigrate to Canada, where he was accepted to college & then allowed for his mother & siblings to immigrate. The Musks left at the end of apartheid, and once Elon & his brother made their money, they became the breadwinners for their family.
This means it was highly likely the elder Musk’s construction work was not on the up & up, since when apartheid collapsed, so did his business & income.
He had a privileged upbringing before his immigration to Canada, including private schooling, extensive travel, growing up in segregated, insulated, white communities. All of that puts him on 3rd thinking he hit a triple.
He got a $500 million loan from the US government to start Tesla.
Elon was not a founder of the company. He was a money source though. Became their CEO 5 years later.
He was born into a very rich family. There’s a 2018 article by Business Insider that details how rich they were. It starts off by telling how when Elon was young he walked around NYC with emeralds in his pockets and sold them to Tiffany and Co.
“‘We were very wealthy,’ says Errol [Elon’s father]. ‘We had so much money at times we couldn’t even close our safe.’
“With one person holding the money in place, another other would slam the door.
“‘And then there’d still be all these notes sticking out and we’d sort of pull them out and put them in our pockets.’”
But it’s worth adding that Elon disputes this account. From what I can tell when his parents divorced and he went to live with his mom, his dad didn’t keep supporting them? It seems.
Lorne says they’re free to skip but I feel like for the cast members, its a form of a loyalty test. Like, if they skip, odds are Lorne won’t feel so loyal when re-signing them for next year. I feel like it’s another bullying type move like he’s saying no one is being forced while also holding this in his little grudge book for not trusting him as an EP. This is especially bad since it’s May so the cast members are closer to the end of the season.
If I were a cast member I would not want to be party to making Musk look good but I would not feel supported by Lorne for skipping the episode.
Did Lorne ever admit to his poor choice in casting Tr*mp?
This was my thought, too. Lorne is super passive-aggressive.
And it’s not only their current contracts he has a hold over with current cast members. If there is intellectual property that is developed on SNL that could become a movie or TV show like MacGruber, it is only getting greenlight if Lorne is an EP on the project. Like, I get it, he created SNL, the IP that leaves SNL and gets a second life means he should get paid but he can kill any of their projects from the position he holds. He does not green light every SNL originated IP. Will Forte & crew had to do a lot of negotiation for the MacGruber TV show.
So there’s power over their current earnings as well as future potential earnings that makes this more complicated.
Agree re Lorne
I call bullshit on cast members feeling free to skip. I think whoever skips the episode will be penalized for it at contract time. New cast members in particular are vulnerable. They likely just have to suck it up, grit their teeth, and do their job. Maybe flub some lines on purpose. Sabotage what they can’t kill.
I agree. Lorne has an iron grip over the show as well as his petty grudges. Lorne would never want to admit that he’s out of touch and he uses the status & success of SNL alum over current writers & cast members, that they are never secure, no matter how hard they work, there’s someone younger & hungrier waiting in the wings.
Well, they got what they wanted, snl is anticipated again, and it’s because of him.
Also, of course p.r. says the cast is allowed to skip a show, but the cast is not really allowed to skip a show.
I knew he’d Tweeted casual transphobic “jokes” (“Pronouns suck”) but I didn’t realize Grimes is nonbinary and wants to raise their child without imposing gender either. So he’s actually attacking his own partner and child with all that as well.
His first ex-wife has talked about how he held male-dominant views and sidelined her in their marriage as well.
And he’s anti-union. I mean they welcomed Trump aboard so idk what to expect of SNL at this point though.
They might be allowed to skip standing on the stage with him, like they did with Kanye, but I doubt they are truly free to skip the entire show.
I know a long term Tesla employee. This man is insane.
Isn’t he also into the whole cryptocurrency mess, too? Just keep burning up resources to mine for bitcoin or ethyrium or whatever made up nonsense keeps these people destroying planet earth. I also avoid Em Cosmetics for the same reason. My dollars aren’t many, but I don’t have to give them to people who have gone off the deep end.
What the heck is going on with the shirt-tucking in that photo above? Is he trying to highlight his bulge?
Oh, barrrrffff. I never, ever, ever, EVER want to think about Musk peen. Sooooo grooooossss.
‘There’s this thing in American culture where we believe that rich people are brilliant or interesting, like they have to be special in all ways to have gotten so rich. When the reality is, a lot of rich, successful people are social morons or complete idiots when it comes to everything other than their specific field. ‘
I agree with this, i work at a pharmaceutical company and cant believe how some of them think and act yet are trusted with people’s bodies
That is so true. Lots of Amis think rich ppl are blessed by the g-o-d and therefore are doing something right….
I love that photo of Elon smoking the joint. He is a total idiot.
Just here to remind everyone yet again that Musk is *not* the founder of Tesla. He stole Tesla from Martin Eberhard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Eberhard
Well, if they don’t boycott SNL, perhaps they will use their writing and humor to skewer him and those like him for the privilege and how its costs us all.
His stupid satellites are polluting our skies.