Chloe Fineman, a cast member of Saturday Night Live (SNL), has spoken out about her experience with Elon Musk during his hosting stint on the sketch comedy show in May 2021, alleging that the Tesla CEO’s treatment of her left her in tears.
In a now-deleted TikTok video, Fineman recounted the incident, saying she stayed up all night writing a sketch she was excited to present to Musk. When she arrived at the SNL set to discuss the script, she claims Musk’s response was dismissive and harsh.
“You made me, Chloe Fineman, burst into tears,” Fineman said in the TikTok. “I stayed up all night 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. You just looked at me and said, ‘It’s not funny.'”
Fineman, who has been with SNL since 2019, said she hoped Musk was joking, but his tone remained serious. “I waited for you to be like, ‘Haha, JK,'” she added. “No. Then you started pawing through my script, flipping each page, saying, ‘I didn’t laugh once. Not one time.'”
The actress and comedian explained that the incident caused her a great deal of distress, noting how vulnerable she felt after putting in so much effort. “It wasn’t just a joke. It was cruel,” Fineman said. “You don’t have to be rude about it.”
In response to Fineman’s TikTok, Musk took to X (formerly Twitter) to address the claims, although he did not directly acknowledge the emotional impact of his actions. Instead, he focused on defending his general critique of the sketches.
“Frankly, it was only on the Thursday before the Saturday that ANY of the sketches generated laughs,” Musk wrote. “I was worried.” He went on to explain that he had been concerned his appearance on the show would fail to land with audiences. “I thought it might be unfunny,” Musk admitted, but ultimately, he said, “it worked out in the end.”
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Musk also referred to a previous appearance on the All-In Podcast, where he shared similar sentiments, noting that “nothing was funny” when he first began working on his SNL episode.
While Fineman’s sketch did end up making it onto the show, she said she found Musk’s behavior unnecessarily harsh. “It worked out in the end, but have a little manners,” she told him in the TikTok.
The incident has sparked further discussion about Musk’s brief tenure as SNL host, during which his interactions with the cast appeared to be less than ideal. Bowen Yang, another SNL cast member, previously hinted that one unnamed host made multiple people on the show cry during the preparation for their episode. On Watch What Happens Live, Yang revealed that the host had expressed dissatisfaction with many of the sketches before the table read, and Fineman has since suggested that Musk might have been the person in question.
“Maybe it was him,” Fineman said of Musk, referring to Yang’s comments. “He’s the host that made someone cry. Maybe there’s others.”
The revelation comes on the heels of Musk’s recent criticism of SNL‘s portrayal of him in a cold open during the show’s November 9, 2024, episode. In the skit, Dana Carvey impersonated Musk, performing an exaggerated, jumpy routine that mocked Musk’s persona and his role in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election victory.
Musk responded to the skit on X, calling it “so mad” and claiming that Carvey’s impersonation “just sounds like Dana Carvey.” He also accused SNL of being out of touch, alleging that the show “has been dying slowly for years” and that its portrayal of him was evidence of the show’s ongoing shift toward “wokeness.”
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“I saw the coverage about the ‘host who made people cry,’ but I decided not to say anything about it,” Fineman admitted. “But then when Elon Musk was being rude about SNL on social media, I just felt like I had to say something.”
Musk’s critique of SNL and his overall social media presence have been controversial. Since his May 2021 appearance, he has continued to make waves with his comments about the show, often accusing it of becoming too politically correct. In addition to his comments about SNL‘s “wokeness,” Musk has also repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with how the show has portrayed him in various sketches.
Despite the tension between Musk and SNL, Fineman said she still found some positive aspects in working with the billionaire. “I thought he was really funny in the sketch that ended up airing,” she said, referring to a sketch where Musk portrayed the video game character Wario in a court battle over his poor reputation.
