Last year, there was a curious blind item that went around thanks to Saturday Night Live’s Bowen Yang. Bowen was on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live. During the episode, he shared that there had been one particular SNL guest who had made “multiple” cast members cry during their weekly Wednesday table read. At the time, there were a lot of different names being thrown around, but the three big guesses were Elon Musk, Dave Chappelle, and Eddie Murphy.
That happened in August. In November, current SNL cast member Chloe Fineman confirmed that Elno (not a typo) was the host in question. Elmo (also not a typo) responded with some stupid commentary about how he wasn’t worried about his SNL appearance, saying that he knew that it wasn’t going to be funny, blaming it on the cast. In lieu of Apartheid Clyde’s (really not a typo) latest antics, Chloe took to her Instagram stories to remind everyone what a massive D-bag he is. In fact, she has “no regrets” about exposing his actions.
“Saturday Night Live” cast member Chloe Fineman has no regrets about calling out X owner Elon Musk for making her cry when he hosted “SNL” in 2021.
On Tuesday night, Fineman took to her Instagram Story (via Daily Beast) to write, “Remember when I got in trouble for calling out mr nazi salute? Ya, no regrets.” The post is in reference to Musk’s actions the day prior, when he stirred controversy with a gesture that drew comparisons to a fascist salute.
In August of 2024, Fineman’s castmate Bowen Yang revealed on “Watch What Happens Live” that a male “SNL” host made “multiple cast members cry” while table reading sketches. That November, Fineman posted a video on TikTok exposing Musk as that “male host.”
“OK, I just saw some news article about Elon Musk being like butt-hurt about ‘SNL’ and his impression, but I’m like, you’re clearly watching the show. Like, what are you talking about?” Fineman said in the video which has since been deleted. “And I’m like, you know what? I’m gonna come out and say at long last that I’m the cast member that he made cry. And he’s the host that made someone cry. Maybe there’s others.”
Shortly after, Musk gave a less than apologetic response, writing on X, “Frankly, it was only on the Thursday before the Saturday that ANY of the sketches generated laughs. I was worried. I was like damn my ‘SNL’ appearance is going to be so fucking unfunny that it will make a crackhead sober!! But then it worked out in the end.”
Look, I think at this point, we are all on Team Chloe and Team Bowen. Being a guest on SNL is a f-cking privilege and is not something that you should take for granted. A guest needs to treat SNL cast members with respect. They’re doing a hard job and if a guest pisses them off they can easily make them show their asses during the live show. (Although Musk does that on his own regularly.) The fact that multiple cast members cried instead of taking revenge speaks to their professionalism and to how much of a mean d-ck he must have been. Good for Chloe for standing her ground, especially during a time in which powerful people could very likely attempt to retaliate against her for calling them out. Welcome to the Resistance, Chloe. Lorne Michaels better have her back.
photos credit: IMAGO/MediaPunch/mpi099/Avalon, Jennifer Graylock-Graylock.com/Avalon, IMAGO/RW/Avalon
Elno cannot make art
He shouldn’t be allowed anything artistic
He only ruins art
And of course, he can’t appreciate any art
All the money in the world, and he can’t create joy
I blame this on Lorne. Musk had no business being a host n the first place.
I think Chloe is very talented and funny but I’ve also read she is/was (?) a Scientologist so that’s disappointing
“with a gesture that drew comparisons to a fascist salute.”
IT WAS A FUCKING NAZI SALUTE. MY GOD call it what it is, Variety! I hate how cowed and terrified of Musk legacy media is SMDH…
There are various social media account devoted to sharing screenshots of Clyde’s tweets where he attempts to be humorous and the man is simply the unfunniest, cringiest dude on the planet. In other words, he had good reason to worry. Nothing to do with SNL’s writers or cast–he’s just terminally awkward, socially inept and IMO devoid of charisma–character traits that aren’t helpful in terms of stage presence and capturing a live audience.
Die Zeit (German newspaper) has blocked the salute out (it’s forbidden in Germany) with the words ‘Ein Hitlergruß ist ein Hitlergruß ist ein Hitlergruß’
I just read an account of the jewish family that was on same tour with Ell-No at Auschwitz. He was completely unmoved and behaved like a sociopath all day – it was chilling.
It’s obvious in still photos, but is really obvious in video that it’s a nazi salute.
Chloe is so talented and funny. I don’t know what she’s like as a person, but whether she’s the nicest person in the world or a huge jerk or anything in between, fuck Elno for making her cry. God he’s such a twat. My husband is from South Africa and this guy is a massive embarrassment. I swear, most of them are NOT like that! And unlike Musk, most of the ones who chose to immigrate here did not like or agree with Apartheid.
WTF was he even invited on in the first place? This was OCTOBER last year – 4-5 years ago could be excused (sort of), but NOW? Lorne Michaels is an ass.