When “
Saturday Night Live” (SNL) announced last month that this
weekend’s broadcast would be hosted by
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of
Tesla
and founder of SpaceX, the decision was widely discussed, dissected and
lamented.
اضافة اعلان
Musk’s fans celebrated the selection and praised “SNL” for
reaching outside its usual talent pool of actors, athletes and musicians.
Professional comedians and television writers criticized the
show for choosing a host with few cultural bona fides and a controversial
history as a businessman.
And in a digital sign of the times, some of “SNL”‘s own
performers took to social media to express their displeasure (or, at least,
their befuddlement) about Musk’s appearance on the show.
Musk, 49, is one of the richest people in the world. He is
active on Twitter — sometimes to his own detriment — and he has appeared in TV
sitcoms (“The Big Bang Theory”), animated series (“Rick and Morty”) and action
movies (“Iron Man 2”).
But he and his companies have been for penalized for illegal
labor practices, and some of Tesla’s products have come under federal scrutiny
for their possible involvement in car accidents.
Musk has previously downplayed the severity of the coronavirus
pandemic, and he reopened a Tesla plant in Fremont, California, in defiance of
guidelines from health officials. More than 400 workers there tested positive
for the coronavirus after its reopening, according to public health data
released in March by the website PlainSite.
Shortly after “SNL” revealed that Musk would be hosting the
show, Bowen Yang posted a lone frowny-face emoji on his Instagram story. Aidy
Bryant took a more oblique approach, using her Instagram story to post a
screenshot of a tweet from Sen. Bernie Sanders in which he wrote that “the 50
wealthiest people in America in this country own more wealth than some 165
MILLION Americans,” adding, “That is a moral obscenity.”
When Musk posted on his own Twitter account, “Let’s find out how
live Saturday Night Live really is,” and punctuated the remark with a
mischievous emoji, Yang shared a screenshot of the tweet with the caption: “what
the (expletive) does this even mean.”
Another tweet from Musk, in which he wrote, “Throwing out some
skit ideas for SNL. What should I do?” caught the attention of Chris Redd. He
quoted that tweet and said, “First I’d call Em sketches,” adding a cry-laughing
emoji.
Andrew Dismukes went to Instagram to post a photograph of
veteran “SNL” cast member Cheri Oteri, adding the caption, “ONLY CEO I WANNA DO
SKETCH WITH IS Cher-E Oteri.” (Several of these social media posts have since
been deleted. A press representative for “Saturday Night Live” declined to
comment for this article.)
Not every cast member was necessarily opposed to Musk’s involvement.
In a radio interview Tuesday with the Breakfast Club on Power 105.1 FM in New
York, Michael Che said: “I think white people just don’t like their
billionaires for some reason. It’s weird, because we love our billionaires. If
Oprah or Tyler Perry was coming, we’d be all excited about it.”
Che added that the disagreement around Musk’s booking was “a
good thing, though — I think it means people still care about the show in some
way, at least.”
Pete Davidson, also speaking to the Breakfast Club in an interview
Thursday, said that he was among the performers who attended an “SNL” cast
dinner with Musk this week.
“I just don’t understand why this is the dude everyone’s so
freaked out about,” Davidson said of Musk. “I was like, what did he do? He’s
just like a really wealthy businessman that makes, like, nerd (expletive). He’s
really nice. I’m excited.”
Still, as of Friday there were no clear indications that any “SNL”
performers planned to sit out Musk’s appearance, as when cast member Nora Dunn
and musician Sinead O’Connor declined to participate in a 1990 episode hosted
by comedian Andrew Dice Clay. (Dunn later said that Clay’s stand-up act was
homophobic and abusive to women.)
With just two shows left this season after Musk hosts, it seems
unlikely that “Saturday Night Live” will face any similar firestorms before it
breaks for the summer. Its remaining episodes will be hosted by comedian
Keegan-Michael Key ( May 15) and “The Queen’s Gambit” star Anya Taylor-Joy (May
22).
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