“Saturday Night Live” doesn’t learn its lesson.
They announced this afternoon that the next host of the show, on May 8th, is billionaire Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX fame. The musical guest is Miley Cyrus.
News of Musk’s gig was met with disdain and mockery from viewers who still won’t forgive “SNL” for letting Donald Trump host a few years ago.
One wrote on Twitter: “Next week on SNL: Robert and Rebekah Mercer hosting, Slipknot is musical guest.”
Another posted: “Lorne Michaels helped humanize Donald Trump, too, by sticking him on “SNL” and Jimmy Fallon. Coming next season: Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin!”
New York comedian Judy Gold opined: “You want to know what I find infuriating? The fact that @elonmusk is hosting @nbcsnl and #CarolBurnett has never been asked to host #SNL in the over 45 years they have been on the air.”
And so on.
Musk is an unpopular choice, not a hip one, which is what I think Lorne Michaels was going for. He is not hip, nor funny, and no one wants him. But “SNL” is struggling to find hosts at a time when no celebrities are promoting movies. Also, their ratings are at dangerous lows– 3.6 million two weeks in a row, far below an acceptable 4.2 or so.
As for Miley Cyrus, who knows why she’s coming? Her most recent album was a dud, but she always puts on a good show. She’s not selling anything in particular this time around. And being on “SNL” hasn’t done much for record sales recently anyway. Nick Jonas introduced two new songs from a new album two months ago. The whole project sank like a stone.
Will there be sketches about Tesla’s exploding without drivers? SpaceX rocket ships needing to be rescued? Stay tuned…
