Elon Musk hosted “Saturday Night Live” this week like a man with nothing to lose.
That’s probably because his net worth is $166 billion. What’s a 90-minute-long sketch show to a man with an income greater than some countries’ defense budgets?
But 49-year-old Musk had been under pressure for weeks. He was the most controversial guest host of “SNL” since then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2015.
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The Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur appeared amid a flurry of anger because of his enormous wealth and his early pandemic skepticism. Cast members Andrew Dismukes, Bowen Yang and Aidy Bryant wrote critical tweets leading up to Musk’s gig, and there were reports that they might even opt out of the episode entirely in protest.
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Dave Chappelle sat for over three hours in an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast posted Friday, with Musk’s debut in sketch comedy being among the various topics discussed.
Rogan speculated that people felt Musk was problematic because of his comments downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic and his vast wealth.
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“No one is awake enough,” Rogan declared.
“They don’t, they can’t appreciate the fact that you’re dealing with literally one of the most brilliant men that’s ever lived that’s gonna come do your show,” he continued.
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Chappelle, puffing on a cigarette for a big chunk of the interview, found the reaction to Musk “puzzling” and failed to understand what sparked criticism of the pick.
“Again like you say no one can be woken up enough,” Chappelle stated.
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“I’m torn because I like a warrior for a good cause but I’m really into tactics,” he noted.
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“You’re not gonna nag people into behaving in a way that’s — in fact, if you continue with this tone, even if you’re right, you’ll be very hard to hear.”
The interview was recorded prior to Musk’s appearance on “SNL” as one of the rare hosts who isn’t an actor or athlete. The SpaceX and Tesla leader’s highlight would include a skit in which he dressed as Wario from the Mario Bros. series of video games.
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Ahead of his appearance, even some of the ensemble cast members reportedly were outraged by his invitation to host the show.
Chappelle recalled that Musk had been “incredibly kind” when he met him.
“I teased him about being the richest man in the world,” Chappelle told Rogan. “He took it with good humor.”
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Musk and Chappelle had met years before, the comedian noted, but Chappelle didn’t remember him.
“I’m like I have no recollection and he looked kind of hurt,” Chappelle said.
Chappelle himself hosted “SNL” back in November, with a monologue focused on COVID-19, in which he insisted it was hilarious that former President Donald Trump got infected with the virus.
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