Elon Musk’s upcoming SNL hosting gig causes outrage among stars

Elon Musk has been announced as the next Saturday Night Live host, with plenty of people less than thrilled about the news.

Knock, knock. Who’s there? Elon Musk.

And the typically chucklesome cast of Saturday Night Live is not laughing.

Giggles turned to groans for some members of the SNL ensemble Saturday when NBC announced that Musk, 49, will helm their sketch comedy show as host alongside musical guest Miley Cyrus on May 8.

The contentious Tesla CEO will be the first nonactor or nonathlete to host Saturday Night Live since Donald Trump spearheaded the satirical sketches in 2015.

Musk tauntingly confirmed his upcoming emcee gig tweeting: “Let’s find out just how live ‘Saturday Night Live’ really is.”

Elon Musk will host the next Saturday Night Live. Picture: AFP

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The polarising tech tycoon — boasting a net worth of approximately $US179 billion — punctuated his cryptic post with the grinning devil emoji to let his 52 million Twitter followers know he means business.

Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is 😈

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2021

But Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang seemed to have hoped that Musk’s social-media memo was nothing more than a bad joke.

“What the f – – k does this even mean,” Yang, 30, questioned in an Instagram Story post attached to a screenshot of the SpaceX pioneer’s tweet.

Fellow SNL jokester Aidy Bryant echoed Yang’s concerns about Musk — the third richest person in the world, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaire billboard — and his forthcoming term as master of ceremonies.

Bryant, 33, reposted a tweet from Bernie Sanders as a thinly veiled dart aimed at Musk that read: “The 50 wealthiest people in America today own more wealth than the bottom half of our people.

“Let me repeat that, because it is almost too absurd to believe: the 50 wealthiest people in this country own more wealth than some 165 MILLION Americans. That is a moral obscenity,” the cyber barb continued.

Aidy Bryant and Bowen Yang's posts on their instagram stories after Elon Musk was announced as the next SNL host!!! Even the show's cast hates him!!!!! Why didn't they just give Miley Cyrus double duty as she deserves!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/0Ivu8BUwX6

— Georgia👑 (@Georgia39410) April 25, 2021

Saturday Night Live writer-turned-trouper Andrew Dismukes, 25, joined the jibing, saying on Instagram, “Only CEO I wanna do sketch with is Cher-E Oteri” — a reference to the former SNL veteran.

Yang, Bryant and Dismukes’ social-media shafts have since been deleted.

Spokespeople for the comedians did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Reps for Saturday Night Live were also not available to comment.

But SNL’s online audience eagerly took to Twitter, airing their grievances about Musk’s impending appearance.

There really was nobody else available to host SNL? Elon Musk? Why?

— Eric Slater (@ericsslater) April 24, 2021

Elon Musk hosting SNL is huge for guys still making "that's what she said" jokes who think they'd be great at hosting SNL.

— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) April 24, 2021

The shady shots at Musk from SNL stars and habitués alike likely stems from the COVID-19 misinformation he touted at the onset of the pandemic.

The engineering magnate downplayed the deadly virus, calling panic induced by the outbreak “dumb” in March 2020.

He also wrongly predicted that there would be “close to zero new cases” by the end of last April.

The coronavirus panic is dumb

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 6, 2020

Based on current trends, probably close to zero new cases in US too by end of April

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2020

That same month, he demanded an end to pandemic closures.

Musk also came under fire for a foreboding Twitter missive in which he threatened to revoke stock options from Tesla employees if they moved to unionise.

But the US National Labor Relations Board forced him to remove the tweet.

Most recently, he nonchalantly said that a “bunch of people will probably die” during his forthcoming Mars mission.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission