When Cecily Strong writes her eventual Saturday Night Live tell-all, I’m skipping right to the chapter about the hours she spent filming promos with Elon Musk and Miley Cyrus. (Was Grimes there? Is Miley going to Mars? Did he refer to himself as the “technoking”?) On Thursday, NBC dropped the first teasers for Musk’s May 8 episode, which began drawing controversy long before the Tesla CEO told a single joke.
It appears that Musk is leaning into the drama with his first SNL promos. “I’m a wild card, so there’s no telling what I might do,” a bandana-wearing Musk declares in one. “Same here,” Cyrus, the episode’s musical guest, replies. “Rules? No thanks.” Strong, truly taking one for the team, reminds the pair, “Well, it’s also the Mother’s Day show, so your moms are gonna be here.” Musk then promises, “Fine, we’ll be good…ish.” In the other promo, Musk references his “successful rocket launch,” suggesting his real-life mission to Mars will be a main topic on Saturday’s episode.
In the weeks leading up to Musk’s SNL debut, several cast members appeared to be confused by the show’s decision to welcome the controversial CEO. Chris Redd poked fun at Musk on Twitter for not knowing the difference between “skits” and “sketches.” Bowen Yang, meanwhile, responded incredulously to Musk’s tweet that he would “find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is”: “What the fuck does this even mean,” Yang wrote on his Instagram Story.
In the final stretch to the SpaceX founder’s episode, though, other cast members are refuting any reports of behind-the-scenes tension. “I just don’t understand why this is the dude everyone’s so freaked out about,” Pete Davidson said on Thursday’s episode of The Breakfast Club. “I was like, What did he do? He’s just, like, a really wealthy businessman that makes, like, nerd shit. I don’t know. He’s really nice. I’m excited.” Davidson also confirmed that Lorne Michaels hosted a dinner with Musk that Davidson attended alongside Redd, Kenan Thompson, Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim, and Colin Jost. When asked who specifically took issue with Musk hosting, Davidson replied, “Nobody that I fuck with. Everybody’s kind of been like, ‘Yo, who’s the guy that’s so pissed off?’ ’Cause we’re on a group text, so everybody’s like, ‘I don’t know.’ So yeah, we’re all excited and really don’t understand the controversy.”
One cast member apparently less than thrilled with this week’s host is Aidy Bryant. Seemingly in response to the news that Musk would emcee SNL, Bryant reportedly shared a screenshot of a Bernie Sanders tweet that described how “the 50 wealthiest people in America today own more wealth than the bottom half of our people”—something that Sanders called “a moral obscenity.” Musk is one of America’s 50 wealthiest people. When asked about her post, Bryant told USA Today, “I don’t really think there’s anything to clear up. I feel like this is a very overblown thing, and I don’t pick the hosts.” She added, “I don’t really have much to say about it, honestly. It’s my job, and I do my job. I look forward to it.”
Musk’s episode, which could include sketches about Iron Man, James Bond, and Baby Shark, will air on Saturday, May 8.
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