SNL: Elon Musk sports ‘nuke Mars’ T-shirt in first look at controversial hosting gig
Tesla billionaire will host show on 8 May despite rumoured upset among its regular cast members
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Saturday Night Live has unveiled its first look at forthcoming host Elon Musk on the show’s set.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO and billionaire will present the long-running sketch show on 8 May, despite rumoured upset among SNL’s regular cast.
On Wednesday (5 May), the official SNL Twitter account posted a caption-less image showing Musk in rehearsals for the show.
In the picture, Musk sports a T-shirt reading “Nuke Mars” and wears a bandana as a face covering.
A number of SNL fans criticised the image, and Musk’s involvement in the show as a whole, with one user condemning Lorne Michaels, the show’s executive producer, for recruiting him.
“No caption, speaks volumes,” tweeted one person. “You’d think someone at NBC would make him wear a real mask.”
Another wrote: “F*** Lorne for inviting him and f*** Elon Musk.”
After SNL announced that Musk was hosting the programme, two of the show’s regular cast members appeared to criticise the move on social media.
Cast member Bowen Yang posted a photo of Musk’s announcement tweet, with the reply, “What the f**k does this even mean?”
Aidy Bryant also posted a retweet from Bernie Sanders in which the lawmaker called it a “moral obscenity” that “the 50 wealthiest people in America today own more wealth than the bottom half of our people.”
Bryant’s social media post has since been deleted.
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