Elon Musk Requests 'SNL' Sketch Ideas One Week Before Hosting Debut

Tesla CEO Elon Musk still has a week to go before he hosts Saturday Night Live, but he let his [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Tesla CEO Elon Musk still has a week to go before he hosts Saturday Night Live, but he let his impatience show on Twitter this weekend. He began throwing out ideas for sketches he could perform on the show. Musk, 49, will make his SNL debut on Saturday, May 8 at 11:30 p.m. ET, with frequent SNL guest Miley Cyrus as the musical performer.

"Throwing out some skit ideas for SNL. What should I do?" he first wrote to his 52.4 million followers. He then suggested some ideas himself. "Irony Man - defeated villains using the power of irony," he wrote in one tweet. He later suggested, "Baby Shark & Shark Tank merge to form Baby Shark Tank." He also agreed with one fan who suggested he do a "Dogefather" sketch, referring to the Doge cryptocurrency Musk is supporting.

NBC revealed Musk was picked to host a Saturday Night Live episode on April 24, instantly sparking a social media firestorm because of Musk's history of controversial comments and business practices. It was also reported that some cast members could boycott Musk's episode if they wanted to. "Speaking historically, if a cast member has been that unhappy, they don't have to do it," a source explained to Page Six, adding that executive producer Lorne Michaels would never "make them do anything they don't want to do." Another source told The Wrap there is an "unwritten" rule for cast members that allow them to skip an episode if they object to the host. However, the source said no member of the cast plan to boycott Musk.

The Musk episode will also be Cyrus' seventh overall appearance on the show. She was a musical guest in 2017, 2018, and 2020, hosted an episode in 2011, and was both host and performer on episodes in 2013 and 2015. This time, Cyrus' appearance comes after the release of her album Plastic Hearts in November 2020. Cyrus recently appeared on the remix of rapper The Kid Laroi's single "Without You." Cyrus and Musk exchanged tweets last week after Musk responded to a person who suggested Musk recreate Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" video. "Might be something there haha," Musk replied. "I'm down if you are! #MileyAndMusk to the moon," Cyrus replied.

Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Past episodes are available to stream on Peacock and Hulu.

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