The decision to have Elon Musk host the May 8 episode of Saturday Night Live has drawn some backlash online. It has also led to criticism from no fewer than four members of the SNL team.
In a Tweet on April 24, the Tesla CEO wrote “Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is” with a devil horns emoji. That tweet was screengrabbed by SNL cast member Bowen Yang, who responded first with a frowny face, then with “What the fuck does this even mean?” in Instagram stories captured by Bustle.
Andrew Dismukes, another cast member, wrote “ONLY CEO I WANT TO DO A SKETCH WITH IS Cher-E Oteri,” in his own Instagram story. The post was a reference to former cast member Cheri Oteri.
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
The reasoning behind some of the objections came more clearly into view with Instagram stories by cast member Aidy Briant and writer Sudi Green. Each posted a picture of a Tweet by Bernie Sanders calling America’s wealth disparity “a moral obscenity,” albeit with no caption.
As the second richest person on Earth, who is accused of having participated in a Bolivian coup and moved to Texas allegedly in order to avoid income taxes, Musk is an active participant in the wealth gap that the former presidential candidate was decrying.
Politicians and the corporate media won't discuss it much but over the past 30 years the wealth of the top 1% has gone up by $22.65 trillion, while the wealth of the bottom 50% has gone down by $776 billion. This growing wealth inequality is a moral obscenity.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 5, 2020
Musk has also come under fire for comparing pandemic-related stay-at-home order “house arrest” and for downplaying the risk of the coronavirus. He has also come out against receiving the vaccines.
It was his juvenile sense of humor, though, that bothered the Desus and Mero TV series writer Josh Gondelman who tweeted that “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.”
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