Elon Musk is not funny. He’s not funny on X, he’s not funny on stage during the campaign trail, and he’s certainly not funny on The Joe Rogan Experience, cheerleading for Trump. But somehow, he believes he’s qualified to chide SNL writer Chloe Fineman’s work to the point of forcing her to burst into tears.
The Hollywood Reporter reported that this story has been bubbling beneath the surface for a while now. It all started when SNL member Bowen Yang appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. First off, credit where credit is due: We’re not sure if it’s due to Cohen’s extensive experience with The Real Housewives franchises, but the man sure knows how to pull out the truth from all his interviewees. The same was true when Yang went on the show, and Cohen somehow got him to reveal that the worst behavior he’d ever witnessed from a host was when an unnamed host made several members of the SNL cast cry.
Yang never mentioned any names, so this story was destined to remain just another show business tale, living forever in the embers of industry gossip. But recently, there was an unexpected update when Elon Musk, moonlighting as a comedy critic on his X account, took issue with Dana Carvey’s impression of him. Musk’s main complaint was that Carvey sounded nothing like him. To Musk, this was further proof that SNL is biased, and that the cast members were upset about Trump’s election victory.
This clearly lit a fire in Chloe Fineman’s belly, prompting her to do a classic post-and-delete on TikTok, confirming that she was actually one of the cast members Elon Musk made cry when he hosted SNL in Season 46. Fineman said that Musk’s constant comments about what he thought should have happened on the show was a clear indication that he watches it—a show he’s called “unfunny” and “too woke.” So, logic would dictate: Why keep watching a show you claim not to enjoy?
Fineman’s account of how Musk made her cry was that she wrote a sketch for the Tesla CEO, and Musk went page by page declaring each one “not funny.” The cruelty understandably got to Fineman, and she shed tears. Crying at work is not a proud moment, regardless of whether you were justified or not; it’s embarrassing to admit. So props to Fineman for admitting it, even if she eventually deleted the post.
Musk responded to the allegation — because of course he did. He took to X to guarantee that the crying, which happened on Wednesday of his hosting week, according to Fineman, actually bore fruit, because the good sketches were all written after Thursday. We’re still stuck, though, on Musk somehow anointing himself as the arbiter of funny. Honestly, can you think of one thing Elon Musk has ever said or done that you actually consider funny? Nothing comes up, right?
Okay, that one time he released a perfume called Burnt Hair was actually kind of funny. Musk’s name does sound like a brand of cheap perfume. We’ll give him that — he’s been funny once. But unless Chloe Fineman is secretly sneaking into the SpaceX offices to tell Elon how to assemble rockets, let’s all stick to what we’re good at. Elon Musk, please just leave Fineman and the rest of the SNL cast members to figure out how to make us laugh.