Mystery Solved: Elon Musk is the SNL Host Who Made Staffers Cry

It’s been three months since we first learned about a mystery Saturday Night Live host who Bowen Yang said made multiple staffers cry. At the time Yang refused to name the host, though he did let on that it was a man, sparking furious speculation among certain corners of SNL fandom.

Today we learned that host was Elon Musk. That’s according to Chloe Fineman, who says it was she who Musk left in tears before a Wednesday table read the week he hosted in May 2020.

Apparently it was Musk’s derision of Dana Carvey’s impression of him in this week’s cold open that led Fineman to take to TikTok Monday afternoon in a now-deleted post.

“OK, I just saw some news article about Elon Musk being like butthurt over SNL and his impression,” she began. “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.”

“I saw some articles and stuff and I was like I’m not gonna say anything. But I’m like, no, if you’re gonna go on your platform and be rude, guess what? You made I, Chloe Fineman burst into tears because I stayed up late writing a 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, j/k,’ she continued. “No, then you started pawing through my script–like flipping each page, [and] being, like, ‘I didn’t laugh once, not one time.’

Fineman added, “The sketch made it on, and it was fine, and I actually had a really good time and I thought you were really funny in it. But, you know. Have a little manners here, sir!”

The sketch Fineman appears to be referring to “The Ooli Show,” which saw the in-studio debut of the Icelandic social media star character she’d played once before in an at-home episode of the show during Covid.

In the sketch, Musk played a producer who repeatedly asks Ooli to be his girlfriend, memorably saying “I have a little bit of money, but I have lots of drugs and ponies.”

Built around the Ooli character that Fineman created, “The Ooli Show” was co-written by Fineman, Jasmine Pierce, Streeter Seidel, and Mikey Day.

Following this weekend’s cold open, Musk lashed out at show on Twitter/X, writing “SNL has been dying slowly for years, as they become increasingly out of touch with reality.” Asked what he thought of Carvey’s impression of him, he added “Dana Carvey just sounds like Dana Carvey”