Cast members on Saturday Night Live won’t be forced to appear alongside host Elon Musk on next week’s (May 8) episode of the show.
Since the controversial Tesla boss was announced to be hosting the show last week, cast members have shared their disapproval at the booking.
Bowen Yang and Aidy Bryant both took to social media following the news that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO would be making his Saturday Night Live debut, after he wrote: “Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is” on his Twitter account.
Staff writer Bowen Yang first posted a frowning emoji on his Instagram story after the news was announced, and later shared a screenshot of Musk’s announcement and wrote: “What the fuck does this even mean.”
dying at bowen yang's instagram stories after snl announced elon musk is hosting pic.twitter.com/6VVQ47frkR
— megan (@chaoticmlkhotel) April 25, 2021
Bryant, who has been a regular cast member on the show since 2012, posted a screenshot of a Bernie Sanders tweet disapproving the 50 wealthiest people in America – which includes Musk.
Musk was not mentioned in Bryant’s repost, but Sanders’ original tweet calls the wealth of the 50 richest people of America a “moral obscenity”.
the absolute shade from Aidy Bryant after announcing that @nbcsnl will have Elon Musk as host. good for her pic.twitter.com/G1K4R0sNEq
— abby (@abbymorr11) April 24, 2021
According to Page Six, SNL boss Lorne Michaels is set to allow cast members who are uncomfortable with Musk’s booking as host to sit out their usual duties of appearing alongside the episode’s host in sketches.
“Speaking historically, if a cast member has been that unhappy, they don’t have to do it,” the SNL told Page Six. “[Michaels] won’t ever make them do anything they don’t want to do.”
Adding that, despite the complaints, no cast member has yet pulled out of appearing on the episode, the source added: “Whether you like him or not, Elon is a very interesting character. He’s very much a showman.”
Elon Musk will host Saturday Night Live on May 8, alongside Miley Cyrus as a musical guest.
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