‘SNL’s’ Chloe Fineman says ‘butt-hurt’ Elon Musk made her cry

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After Elon Musk trashed Saturday Night Live’s recent impersonation of him, cast member Chloe Fineman says the Tesla billionaire made her cry when he hosted the show back in 2021.

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Earlier this year, Fineman’s co-star, Bowen Yang, said that one host, who he didn’t name, made multiple actors on the program cry because he “hated the ideas.”

In a now-deleted TikTok post, Fineman revealed that Musk was the personality who caused some of the cast members to break down during his time working on his episode.

“OK, I just saw some news article about Elon Musk being like butt-hurt about SNL and (Dana Carvey’s) impression, but I’m like you’re clearly watching the show, like what are you talking about?” Fineman said on TikTok. “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.”

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Fineman, 36, said she wasn’t going to say anything about her alleged experience with Musk, but she decided to break her silence after Musk derided SNL in a series of social media posts in which he called the show unfunny and accused the cast members of being “mad that” Donald Trump won the recent U.S. election.

“If you’re gonna go on your platform (X) and be rude, guess what? You made I, Chloe Fineman, burst into tears because I stayed up all night writing this 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, ‘Haha, JK.’ No. Then you started pawing through my script, like flipping each page being like, ‘I didn’t laugh once, not one time,’” she recalled of her experience presenting a proposed segment to him. 

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Fineman said the sketch was eventually ironed out and she “actually had a really good time.”

“I thought you were really funny in it, but have a little manners here. Sir!” she concluded her message.

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In SNL’s first episode since Trump’s resounding victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, the cast sarcastically showered praise on the Republican president-elect — joking that they were hoping to remain on his good side. Dana Carvey also popped up wearing a dark MAGA hat and Musk’s all-black wardrobe.

“Check it out: dark MAGA. Yeah! But seriously, I run the country now,” Carvey said in an exaggerated South African accent. “America’s going to be like one of my rockets. They’re super cool and super fun, but there’s a slight chance it could blow up and everybody dies. Haha!”

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Responding to a follower who shared a clip of the segment and asked, “Is this funny to anyone?” Musk replied, “SNL has been dying slowly for years, as they become increasingly out of touch with reality.”

He then hit out at Harris’ cameo on the show just days before the election. “Their last-ditch effort to cheat the equal airtime requirements and prop up Kamala before the election only helped sink her campaign further,” Musk added.

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According to USA Today, after Harris’ SNL appearance, NBC filed a notice with the Federal Communications Commission saying it would give Trump equal time, letting him address viewers during a NASCAR Cup playoff race that aired on the network the next day.

In another social media post, Musk slammed Carvey’s impersonation, writing, “Dana Carvey just sounds like Dana Carvey.” He also made fun of the opening saying the cast members “are so mad that” Trump won the election. When another user claimed more people watched the SNL sketch on X than on TV, Musk agreed with a laughing emoji. 

Musk had previously dismissed SNL as “woke” and deemed it “so rarely funny these (days).”

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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