Elon Musk refused to do a Saturday Night Live sketch when he hosted the show because he didn’t believe anyone would buy that a woman “wouldn’t want” him.
Four years after his controversial hosting gig in May 2021, former cast member Punkie Johnson revealed the sketch she pitched him during a podcast interview with Toure.
“I’m like ‘Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, goes into the Waffle House, falls in love with the waitress, Brenda,” Johnson said, describing her pitch to the billionaire. “He can get anything he wants… he can get any woman he wants—except Brenda.”
But Musk thought that was just not plausible.
“He was like, ‘Why wouldn’t Brenda want me? I don’t understand why Brenda wouldn’t want me,‘” Johnson recalled. “And then his friend was like, ‘I could get it if he had, like, a dog paw for a hand.’ I’m like, you know what, never mind y’all. A dog paw for a hand?‘”
“He couldn’t understand why Brenda didn’t—first of all, Brenda is not real. Brenda’s not a real f—ing person,” she added, “I just said forget it.”
Musk’s appearance ruffled feathers among others on the show for various reasons, as several cast members appeared to protest his selection as host alongside musical guest Miley Cyrus on social media.
Musk created further bad blood when he posted, “Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is” before the show, to which Bowen Yang publicly responded, “What the f— does this even mean?” Later, Musk revealed that he wanted to test that proposition by threatening to “take my c–k out” during his monologue.
More tension brewed behind the scenes, as SNL star Chloe Fineman outed Musk as the previously unnamed host she said made her cry. “Remember when i got in trouble for calling out mr nazi salute? ya no regrets,” Fineman posted on Instagram earlier this year.
A new biography about SNL boss Lorne Michaels revealed that after Trump hosted during his first presidential campaign in 2015, booking Musk was further confirmation for cast and crew that Michaels was using the show to do favors for his wealthy friends.
All that said, Musk wasn’t Johnson’s favorite or least favorite host, she said, but “he threw me off a little bit to start,” she explained, blaming his “caucassity” for his inability to comprehend her idea.
