Long-running late-night television show “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) made headlines when they announced that billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk would be hosting the show on May 8, along with musical guest Miley Cyrus.

Elon Musk to Host SNL
Photo from Kevork Djansezian Getty

The decision comes as a bit of a head-scratcher, considering the sketch-comedy show doesn’t normally pull hosts from non-entertainment fields.

Musk, known for publicly downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic and calling for the lifting of stay-at-home orders last April 2020, is widely disliked for his controversial views and billionaire status.

While the news is surprising, this isn’t the show’s first foray into polarizing figures. Back in 2015, “SNL” tapped Donald Trump to host the show in an episode that drew in 9 million viewers — the highest in years. Kanye West, who sported a “Make America Great Again” cap, also hosted in 2018.

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Photo from Billboard

The show has notably relied on such questionable figures in a bid to stay relevant and boost ratings.

Cast members, however, are not buying into it.

In response to Musk’s tweet regarding the hosting gig, wherein Musk said, “Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is,” cast member Bowen Yang posted a screenshot to his Instagram story and captioned it, “What the fuck does this even mean.”

Longtime cast member Aidy Bryant also took a shot at the Tesla CEO on her Instagram stories, posting a screenshot of a tweet by Bernie Sanders that read, “The 50 wealthiest people in America today own more wealth than the bottom half of our people. 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. That is a moral obscenity.”

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Photo from Aidy Bryant Instagram

Musk is currently the second richest individual in the country, coming in second to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Despite the huge backlash, you can choose to watch, or not to watch, the episode premiering on streaming services next Saturday, May 8.

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