Saturday Night Live star Chloe Fineman has claimed that Elon Musk made her cry when he hosted the show.
The Tesla founder divided SNL viewers with his “surreal” hosting stint in May 2021, an appearance that led to criticism from some of the show’s cast due to Musk’s controversial views.
Fineman shared her alleged experience with Musk after the billionaire spoke out against the US sketch show after he was mocked during a segment about Donald Trump.
There has been a question mark surrounding which guest host it was that had reduced somebody to tears. The revelation was originally shared by Bowen Yang in August, who said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that a male celebrity host “made multiple members cry” during a table-read.
While he did not name any names, Fineman, inspired by Musk’s criticism of the show, revealed in a now-deleted TikTok post (as per Variety): “OK, I just saw some news article about Elon Musk being like butt-hurt about SNL and his impression, but I’m, like, you’re clearly watching the show. Like, what are you talking about?”
“And I’m like, you know what? I’m gonna come out and say at long last that I’m the cast member that he made cry. And he’s the host that made someone cry. Maybe there’s others.”
She continued: “But I’m like, no, if you’re gonna go on your platform and be rude, like, guess what? You made I, Chloe Fineman, burst into tears because I stayed up all night writing the sketch.
“I was so excited, I came in, I asked if you had any questions and you stared at me like you were firing me from Tesla and were like, ‘It’s not funny.’ I waited for you to be like, ‘Ha ha, joke.’ No. Then you started pawing through my script, like flipping each page, being, like, ‘I didn’t laugh once, not one time.’”
Fineman said she ended up having a “really good time” performing the sketch, adding: “I thought you were really funny in it. But, you know, have a little manners here, sir.”
The Independent has contacted Fineman and Musk for comment.
In the first post-election episode of SNL, Dana Carvey played Musk, depicting him wearing a dark MAGA hat and speaking with a garbled voice.
Musk was not impressed with the performance and set his sights on SNL in the immediate aftermath of the episode’s broadcast. He wrote on X/Twitter, which he owns: “They are so mad that @realDonaldTrump won.”
He then criticised Carvey’s performance, stating: “Dana Carvey just sounds like Dana Carvey.”
