Pete Davidson Defends Elon Musk Hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’
NBC and Saturday Night Live have faced criticism recently since announcing Tesla CEO Elon Musk as host of the late-night sketch comedy series, and Pete Davidson doesn’t understand why.
During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Myers, Davidson said that he hasn’t met Musk yet, but planned on having dinner with him and SNL producer Lorne Michaels later that evening. He said that he was really excited and was “gonna ask him for, like, a Tesla or some s—.” With Mother’s Day coming up, Davidson joked that he would disguise his request for a Tesla being for his mother, letting her drive it once or twice, then taking it for himself.
Myers asked Davidson if he would go to space if Musk asked him to, which he said, “100%,” then if Musk asked if he would get stoned with him said, “100,000%. That guy’s a genius, I don’t get why people are freaking out, they’re like, ‘I can’t believe that Elon Musk is hosting!’ And I’m like, the guy that makes the Earth better kinda and makes cool things and sends people to Mars?”
SNL co-head writer and Weekend Update co-host Michael Che also expressed his support of Musk during his appearance on Late Night earlier this week and said, “That’s gonna be exciting, too. He’s the richest man in the world, how could you not be excited for that?”
As we earlier reported, other cast members aren’t took happy about Musk hosting. After Musk was announced for the show, SNL‘s Bowen Yang shared a screenshot of Elon Musk’s tweet “Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is” on his Instagram Story, adding: “What the f— does this even mean.”
Fellow SNL castmate Aidy Bryant also posted on her story after Musk was announced as host, echoing Yang’s concerns about the SpaceX CEO. SNL‘s Chris Redd also responded to a tweet the billionaire wrote, “Throwing out some skit ideas for SNL. What should I do?” To which he replied, “First I’d call Em sketches.”
First I’d call Em sketches 😂 https://t.co/37liDrKYjo
— Chris Redd (@Reddsaidit) May 2, 2021
Musical guest Miley Cyrus also faced backlash for her support of the May 8 host.
Besides Musk’s insane amount of wealth and power, people don’t seem to like his Tweets in regards to COVID-19, spreading misinformation and denial. Musk downplayed the Coronavirus, calling panic induced by the outbreak “dumb” at the start of the pandemic. He also wrongly predicted that there would be “close to zero new cases” by the end of last April. That same month, he demanded an end to pandemic closures. He also came under fire for threatening to revoke stock options for Tesla employees if they moved to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board forced him to remove the tweet. Musk recently nonchalantly said that a “bunch of people will probably die” during his forthcoming Mars mission.
