Report: ‘Saturday Night Live’ Cast Members May Refuse to Appear with Host Elon Musk

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Alana Mastrangelo

Saturday Night Live (SNL) cast members have expressed frustration that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will soon host the show, leading the New York Post to speculate that some of the performers may refuse to share a stage with him.

Earlier this week, Musk tweeted, “Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is,” reacting to the news that he would host the show on May 8. Cast member Bowen Yang took to Instagram to react, writing, “What the fuck does this even mean,” then following up that message with a frowning emoji.

According to the Post‘s Page Six, longtime SNL cast member Aidy Bryant also took to social media to post an apparent jab at Musk, sharing a March tweet by Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), which 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.

Writer and performer Andrew Dismukes posted a photo of SNL alum Cheri Oteri on Instagram, adding the caption, “Only CEO I want to do a sketch with is Cher-E Oteri.”

The cast has quieted down since the initial announcement, but the Post speculates that the discontent may carry over to the night of the show.

“Speaking historically, if a cast member has been that unhappy, they don’t have to do it,” a source — whose relationship to the program is not described in any way — told Page Six. “[SNL boss Lorne Michaels] won’t ever make them do anything they don’t want to do.”

“Weekend Update” host Michael Che — who recently fell under scrutiny for an anti-Semitic joke on the show — the SNL cast member joked with Jimmy Fallon this week, stating that he hopes the SpaceX CEO will uphold the SNL tradition of hosts giving “a couple million dollars” to each cast member.

Musk is a controversial figure for both right and left. Before 2020, Breitbart News regularly covered the “hyperhype” phenomenon of Musk over-promising technical innovation to investors and customers from his various businesses. The Tesla brand has been plagued by a series of scandals, from accusations of market manipulation on his Twitter account to fatal crashes to whistleblower accounts of dysfunction within the company. Last year, Musk enraged progressives by opposing coronavirus hysteria and lockdowns.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.

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