Michael Che is 'excited' for Elon Musk's upcoming 'SNL' hosting gig; Tesla CEO pitches skit ideas
Always the innovator, Elon Musk is crowdsourcing ideas for his upcoming "Saturday Night Live" appearance – and pitching some of his own sketch premises on social media.
"Throwing out some skit ideas for SNL. What should I do?" the Tesla CEO and SpaceX chief engineer, 49, tweeted Saturday. Musk is scheduled to host the show on May 8, joined by musical guest Miley Cyrus, the show announced late last month.
He wasted no time sharing the ideas he'd like to see come to reality: "Irony Man," a character who "defeats villains using the power of irony," "Baby Shark & Shark Tank," who "merge to form Baby Shark Tank" and "Woke James Bond."
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Musk's tweets garnered attention from cast member Chris Redd, who offered an edit to the business mogul's word choice.
"First I’d call Em sketches," he replied with a laughing/crying emoji.
But Redd noted his response wasn't an act of defiance against the upcoming host, as many – including Chrissy Teigen – have wondered.
"everything is fine," the comedian tweeted Saturday, reminding those who perceived his tweet as a dig at Musk that he is a "professional (trash) talker."
"Weekend Update" co-host Michael Che said in a Monday appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" he thought having Musk host would be "exciting."
“He’s the richest man in the world, how could you not be excited for that?” Che added.
After the announcement, fellow cast member Aidy Bryant shared a Bernie Sanders tweet calling America's wealth gap a "moral obscenity" to her Instagram story. Some interpreted her post as a dig at Musk, whom Forbes named the world's richest person earlier this year with a net worth of $199.9 billion as of February.
"The 50 wealthiest people in America today own more wealth than the bottom half of our people," Sanders tweeted on March 25. "Let me repeat that, because it is almost too absurd to believe: the 50 wealthiest people in this country own more wealth than some 165 MILLION Americans."
Cast member Bowen Yang also weighed in on the host last week, after Musk tweeted, "Let's find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is."
"what the (expletive) does this even mean," Yang wrote on his Instagram story alongside a screenshot of Musk's tweet.
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Though Musk is an unexpected choice to host, one that some have deemed controversial, he isn't a stranger to the entertainment world. He's been dating singer Grimes (real name Claire Boucher), who now goes by "c," since 2018. The two welcomed a baby boy last year and named him "X ? A-Xii."
Grimes and Musk made headlines after announcing the birth of their son, and his unusual name, on Twitter last May. A day later, Grimes tweeted a full breakdown of the name choice:
"?X, the unknown variable
??, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)
?A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent
+ (A=Archangel, my favorite song) (metal rat)"
Contributing: Charles Trepany
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elon Musk hosting 'SNL': Tesla CEO shares skit ideas, cast mocks him