If you were the richest person in the world, what would you do with all of that money? Buy an island? Move into a castle? What opportunities would this status give you? Well, it appears that one possible answer to the question is… host Saturday Night Live.
Elon Musk, who was reported to be the richest person in the world back in January, has recently been announced as the host of this Saturday’s SNL. When this was revealed, he tweeted “Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is,” along with a devil emoji. Depending on who you ask, that devil emoji may be more than merely playful.
Bowen Yang, an SNL cast member, reacted to the announcement on his Instagram story. He simply posted an emoji, with its eyebrows raised and mouth twisted into a frown. Aidy Bryant, another cast member, retweeted a Bernie Sanders tweet that said, “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.” As Elon Musk is at the top of the list of wealthy Americans, Byrant’s tweet seems aimed at him. Additionally, Chris Redd retweeted a Musk tweet asking for skit ideas, adding, “First I’d call Em sketches.” Later, he said that this was just a five-word retweet done from his toilet.
This is certainly not the entire cast, but it is a very notable number of people. The producer of SNL, Lorne Michaels, stated that nobody would be forced to take part in Musk’s episode if they weren’t comfortable doing so.
On the other hand, some at SNL have expressed excitement over this week’s show. Micheal Che said he was excited to meet the billionaire and joked on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” that he hoped that this host would keep up the tradition of giving millions of dollars to cast members. Pete Davidson has also said that he looked forward to Musk hosting the show. “I don’t know why people are freaking out”, he said on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
Elon Musk has certainly proven himself to be a controversial figure in the last couple of years. He has made anti-union remarks, tweeting that employees who formed a union would lose their stock options. When his child was born last year, he named the baby X Æ A-12. California officials then told him that he could not name the baby X Æ A-12, as it didn’t adhere to their guidelines of permissible names. When talking about the soon-to-come COVID vaccines (this interview, conducted by journalist Kara Swisher on the New York Times podcast, was done in September of last year), Musk said that he would refuse to take it.
His defenders would call him a genius inventor. Pete Davidson, in his aforementioned comments on Musk, claimed that he “…makes the Earth better kinda and makes cool things and sends people to Mars.” They would also say that he earned every cent of his vast fortune, even if Bernie Sanders doesn’t approve.
Regardless of what you think, this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live is bound to be interesting. By the time this article comes out, it will have already aired. Whether nothing happens or something major sends the show crashing into a brick wall (metaphorically speaking, of course), the discussion caused by the host is well worth having.