Elon Musk has delivered his monologue on Saturday Night Live, poking fun at his own eccentricities and appearing to reveal that he has ‘Asperger’s’.
As the hotly anticipated episode aired, many users complained that streaming options on the NBC app were crashing, presumably due to high user volume.
In his monologue, Musk himself did not mention by name the joke cryptocurrency Dogecoin by name, sending the price of the volatile asset plunging dramatically as he spoke.
His mother Maye, who made a guest appearance for Mother’s Day, did say she hoped that his gift would not be Dogecoin, to which he replied: ‘It is!’
Elon Musk has delivered his monologue on Saturday Night Live, poking fun at his own eccentricities and appearing to confess that he has ‘Asperger’s’
The value of Dogecoin dropped sharply as Musk spoke, losing more than 20% of its value
‘I’m actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL. Or at least the first to admit it. So I won’t make a lot of eye contact with the cast tonight,’ Musk said in his monologue.
Asperger syndrome is an autism-spectrum disorder characterized by difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication.
Musk shared his vision that humanity ‘must become a multiplanetary spacefaring civilization’ before going on to joke about his eccentric nature and frequently bizarre Twitter posts.
‘Look I know I sometimes say or post strange things, but that’s just how my brain works,’ said Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
‘To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say: I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending humans to Mars on a rocket ship. Did you also think I was going to be a chill, normal dude?’ he joked.
In his monologue, Musk himself did not mention by name the joke cryptocurrency Dogecoin by name, but his mother pleaded with him not to buy it as a Mother’s Day gift
‘A lot of times, people are reduced to the dumbest thing they ever did,’ he continued. ‘Like one time, I smoked weed on Joe Rogan’s podcast. And now all the time I hear “Elon Musk, all he does is smoke weed on podcasts.”‘
‘It happened once! It’s like reducing OJ Simpson to murderer! That was one time,’ Musk joked.
Musk went on to poke fun at the name he and his girlfriend, the musician Grimes, selected for their young son, displaying it on the screen: X Æ A-Xii.
‘It’s pronounced, cat running across keyboard,’ he joked.
Musk went on to appear in numerous sketches on the show, and clearly appeared to be having fun.
In one sketch, he appeared as doctor at ‘Gen Z Hospital’, delivering bad news in youthful slang to a group of teens worried about their friend.
Another sketch was titled ‘Every conversation with people you haven’t seen since quarantine started,’ and featured nervous conversations at a house party.
‘Really good’ says Musk’s character when asked about how his wife is doing. ‘We’ve been working from home so we’re really productive and we get to see each other more.’
In a voiceover, Musk is heard thinking: ‘We’re getting divorced, and I’m losing my job.’
The decision to tap the Tesla CEO and ‘Technoking’ to host the NBC sketch comedy show was seen as a risky gambit by creator Lorne Michaels to boost ratings and expand audience.
For the first time in SNL’s 46-year history, the episode featuring Musk aired live internationally on YouTube in more than 100 countries. The stream was not available to U.S. viewers.
‘SNL is a global phenomenon and this livestream marks the first time audiences around the world will experience the show simultaneously along with the US,’ Frances Berwick, chairman of NBCU’s entertainment networks, said in a statement.
Musk posted a photo of himself, musical guest Miley Cyrus and Australian rapper The Kid Laroi along with the Shiba Inu dog from the meme that inspired the creation of Dogecoin
‘It’s incredibly exciting to create this worldwide event with host Elon Musk and musical guest Miley Cyrus,’ he added.
Saturday’s episode of the show quickly became one of the most hotly-anticipated of all time, due to the decision to cast the controversial Tesla boss as host for the evening.
The decision drew an instant backlash from its long-running cast members when it surfaced last month, with many making digs at Musk on social media.
Even hours before the live show, tensions were still simmering with sources saying some cast members ‘are getting a little too big for their britches.’
Musk’s girlfriend Grimes also hinted she will be joining him and Miley in an Instagram post where she told fans: ‘Tune into SNL tonight and watch me try acting’.