Elon Musk slams ‘SNL’ over brutal sketch mocking his autism and Tesla: ‘Hasn’t been funny in a long time’

WASHINGTON, DC: Tech billionaire Elon Musk hit back at the 'Saturday Night Live' team for trolling him in their cold open sketch on April 5, reported the Daily Mail.

Musk's work as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chair, slashing federal funds and thousands of jobs in the process, has led to widespread protests at Tesla sites, the electric vehicle company that he owns. The price of Tesla shares has taken a nosedive since the beginning of the year, and most recently, Musk's attempt to get a conservative judge elected in Wisconsin failed even after he spent millions.

Amid all this, the 'SNL' skit parodying the collective experience has apparently enraged Musk, who commented on a clip of the performance on X, "SNL hasn’t been funny in a long time. They are their own parody."

'SNL' parody of Elon Musk

The latest episode of the NBC show had Mike Myers playing Elon Musk, wearing a cheese hat just as the billionaire had donned on March 31 for a town hall rally in Wisconsin.

In the skit, the character enters the scene to cut off James Austin Johnson, who is playing President Donald Trump, in the middle of his speech.

"Say cheese! Hahahaha, kidding, kidding," says Myers' Musk, tossing his hat away. "That was from when I tried to buy the election in Wisconsin, uhhhh, I'm an idiot, I should've just bought Wisconsin," he added.

Myers punctuates his speech with twitching laughter, as Johnson's Trump notes, "Elon it was great, but sadly, it's time to never see you again, OK? You gotta get back to Tesla, right? Because they're doing pretty bad."

President Trump had told reporters last week that “at some point, Elon’s gonna want to go back to his company,” adding, “He wants to. I’d keep him as long as I could keep him.”

"Yes, recently, our dealerships have been the target of many attacks, and suddenly, no one likes Tesla cars. So, I ask myself why, and then I answered myself, because of me," chuckles Myers' Musk.

The parody then had Myers' Musk come up with a solution for the protests and reported vandalism against Tesla, with the new Model V. He describes it as "the first electric car in history to be fully self-vandalizing,” that comes with features such as self-smashing headlights, self-slashing tires, and AI-powered graffiti.

The jittery laugh that Myers did for his caricature of Musk was seemingly alluded to the SpaceX CEO being diagnosed with Asperger's disease. Musk himself went public with the information four years ago when he hosted an episode of 'SNL'. As per the Daily Mail, this has since been a part of 'SNL's Musk portrayals.

Asperger's syndrome is part of a wide diagnosis called autism spectrum disorder (ASD). People with ASD have difficulty with socializing and social skills. They tend to have narrow range of interests, rigid routines and will often show repetitive behavior, such as flapping their hands.

This was the third time Myers portrayed Musk in 'SNL' Season 50. His first two appearances were on March 1, and March 8, when he was seen picking a fight with Secretary of State Marco Rubio (played by Marcello Hernandez) and interrupting Trump's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in skits, per USA Today.

Those performances were also criticized by Musk, who tweeted, "Humor fails when it lies."

'SNL' sketch mocking Elon Musk divides Internet

While MAGA and Elon Musk supporters slammed the 'SNL' skit for trolling the tech billionaire, others on the social media platform X found the parody hilarious. The following tweets demonstrate their takes.

"Not funny or even entertaining, just irritating, like nails on a chalkboard," wrote a user.

"This is not funny by any stretch of the imagination. Just plain mean and fueled by hatred," shared another.

"This is in such exceedingly bad taste. Wow. Not even funny, just mean. Born from hate, not from humor," echoed one user.

"Mike Meyers has nailed Muskrat to a T!" shot back another.

"Mike Myers as Elon Musk is too funny for words. Great skit," remarked one.

"Great stuff. Endless material with these 2 idiots," said an individual while referencing Trump and Musk.

"Funny as hell," a comment read.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.