A new meme has emerged amidst the outcry following SNL's announcement that tech billionaire Elon Musk will host next month, alongside musical guest star Miley Cyrus. The Tesla CEO is currently the second-richest man on Earth, and he tends to spend those funds on projects that often get mocked on the internet. Much like other billionaires, Musk is also criticized for amassing wealth in obscenely high numbers and for allegedly (and if true, illegally) stopping his employees from unionizing.
Musk is a seemingly bold choice to put under the spotlight of the long-running sketch comedy show, though he's hardly the first non-actor to host SNL. Since the beginning, SNL has welcomed many politicians, athletes, and other influential people outside of the world of Hollywood. This is also not the first time that a polarizing figure has come on. SNL received plenty of criticism back in 2015 when Donald Trump hosted.
Even so, the announcement that Musk will be on SNL has captured the attention of the internet. There has been no shortage of people offering serious criticisms of SNL for having Musk host. A few people have also pointed out that Miley Cyrus could have been both the host and the musical guest star, which is what Nick Jonas is set to do the weekend before Musk and Cyrus appear. And of course, many have made jokes about the announcement by listing other absurd choices using SNL's signature Post-It Note layout. Here are a few of the best ones from the bunch:
It's worth mentioning these memes could very well be the response SNL was hoping for when it decided to have Musk on as a host. The show has been at a record low recently, with a few bumps in ratings every so often depending on the political scene or who the SNL hosts and musical guests are. It could be possible that Lorne Michaels and the other powers that be at SNL chose Musk completely aware there would be backlash, in order to garner attention and put the show back on people's radar.
Whatever the motivations, it'll certainly be interesting to see how Musk does on SNL, especially considering he is not an actor (save for the few times he has appeared as himself in TV shows and movies). Even if Musk doesn't do well, that's only more fuel for the fire of memes like this one. To see how it goes, viewers will have to wait until Musk hosts SNL on May 8.
Source: Various (see above)