SNL Cast Reportedly 'Confused' About Upcoming Host Choice
Saturday Night Live always used to be better. At least, that seems to be the common theme among those who once held reverence for the long-running variety show whose alumni have infiltrated all manner of spaces within popular culture.
“SNL hasn’t been good since [such and such a person] left”, is a common refrain, for instance.
But now, the latest controversy surrounding the program has nothing to do with fans lamenting cast members of yesteryear, but rather current cast members’ feelings on one future host.
Elon Musk hasn’t appeared on “Saturday Night Live” yet, but he is already getting panned by some of its cast members.
SNL announced Saturday on Twitter that the business mogul will host the late-night show on May 8. Other big names in the corporate world that have hosted NBC’s popular late-night show include Donald Trump, before he was president, and Steve Forbes.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has become known for his eclectic and often controversial remarkss. He has faced backlash over his comments about the Covid-19 pandemic. He has spoken out about national stay-at-home orders, comparing it in a tweet to “de facto house arrest.” He downplayed the risk of the novel coronavirus and said he would not get the vaccine for it in an interview with journalist Kara Swisher on an episode of “Sway,” a podcast from The New York Times.
The backlash was swift.
Some of that criticism came from the show’s own cast. In an Instagram story, Bowen Yang responded to one of Musk’s tweets about his upcoming appearance. On Saturday, Musk had tweeted, saying “Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is.”
Yang reacted at first with a frowning face. Then, he posted Musk’s tweet with a message above: “What the f— does that even mean?”
Andrew Dismukes, another cast member, also gave his take in an Instagram story. Over a photo of SNL alumna Cheri Oteri, which looked like a magazine cover, Dismukes wrote “ONLY CEO I WANT TO DO A SKETCH WITH IS Cher-E Oteri.”
Musk has been a bit of a troll on social media of late, and one can only wonder how his television hosting premiere will go.