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Twitter was quick to diss Saturday Night Live booking billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk as its next guest host — and so, too, it seems at least three current SNL cast members are willing to throw shade at the idea of performing and/or writing for Musk in May. Aidy Bryant, Andrew Dismukes and Bowen Yang have seemingly displayed their displeasure on Instagram Stories, though nobody from SNL has spoken publicly about Musk.
It all started when the 49-year-old trolled Twitter and SNL over the weekend, following the show’s startling announcement.
Yang put Musk’s Tweet on his IG story, typing above it: “What the fuck does this even mean?”
Dismukes shared a photo of SNL alum Cheri Oteri, photoshopped as a magazine cover, and typed: “ONLY CEO I WANT TO DO A SKETCH WITH IS Cher-E Oteri.”
Bryant, meanwhile, went even more subtle, sharing a Tweet by Bernie Sanders, describing the “moral obscenity” of the 50 wealthiest Americans hoarding more money than half of all Americans.
https://twitter.com/Georgia39410/status/1386134015837544450
Mostly, however, SNL‘s performers and writers have remained out of the social media fray while they’re on break from 30 Rock (the show is off this week). Perhaps they may lobby Lorne Michaels behind the scenes, or come Monday when they return to the offices for the traditional pitch session with the week’s guest host.
Perhaps, too, the slotting of Miley Cyrus as musical guest represents an intentional backup plan, as Cyrus has already hosted SNL multiple times.
The question remains, though, whether anyone on SNL‘s payroll will get in the way, or walk out, in protest.
That hasn’t happened in almost 31 years, to the week. That’s when cast member Nora Dunn boycotted the booking of stand-up character comedian Andrew “Dice” Clay on May 12, 1990. Musical guest Sinéad O’Connor also bowed out that week, forcing two last-minute replacement bookings of Julee Cruise and Spanic Boys.
Back then, though, SNL leaned into the Clay controversy, not only not backing Dunn, but also by making fun of her in that week’s show, killing her off in a parody of It’s A Wonderful Life with Jon Lovitz as the devil.
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But don’t think Lorne doesn’t know what he’s doing. He has booked hosts without any comedic or acting background before; usually athletes, politicians or the occasional musical guest gets to host. Most recently: Adele, in week four of this 46th season.
The exceptions, though, are few and far between: Jimmy Breslin, Francis Ford Coppola, Howard Cosell, Hugh Hefner, Paris Hilton, John Madden, Edwin Newman, Miskel Spillman, George Steinbrenner, Quentin Tarantino, Brandon Tartikoff, Brian Williams, and some guy named Donald Trump.
Will Musk’s show follow the pattern of Andrew “Dice” Clay? Or will the protests stick to 24-hours-only Instagram Stories? Stay tuned.
