‘SNL’ Pokes Fun at Elon Musk’s Offer to Buy Twitter

“Saturday Night Live” kicked off its cold open that touched on everything from Elon Musk trying to buy Twitter, Britney Spears announcing her pregnancy, to Coachella and bad reviews for the movie “Morbius.”

Bowen Yang’s Easter Bunny introduced himself against a pastel and garden-filled backdrop to mimic the Christian holiday.

“It’s really me, the Easter Bunny,” Yang said. “Either that, or you’re at Coachella and the ‘shrooms are kicking in.”

Yang introduced Kate McKinnon’s Dr. Fauci made a comeback, and now two years into an ongoing pandemic, Dr. Fauci is tired of relaying the same message.

“Trust me, I’m not here to give you anymore COVID guidance, I’m not stupid enough to think you are actually going to follow it,” Dr. Fauci (McKinnon) says. “COVID cases are a lot like Jesus, they’ve risen again.”

Yang then introduced Elon Musk, played by Mikey Day, who offered to buy twitter this week for 43$ billion.

“OK, I’m Elon Musk,” Day’s Musk began. “And I’m here to officially buy Easter. I’m offering 43 billion Peeps. That was a joke. Do you get it? That’s why afterwards I said ‘That was a joke,’ so you know it was a joke.”

Day’s version of the tech billionaire, who hosted ‘SNL’ last season, asked if people were afraid he would “make Twitter bad.”

He added, “What are you scared I’ll buy next? The Oscars?”

What followed were appearances by Chris Redd’s Mayor Eric Adams who bragged about how the man responsible for the Brooklyn shooting was found in 30 hours and turned himself in; Britney Spears (Chloe Fineman) who detailed her pregnancy; and Kyle Mooney’s Jared Leto who introduced himself as Jesus.

By the time Yang was about to cut to the opening monologue, James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump appeared.

“I was told we were doing Easter wishes and I was not given my turn,” Trump said. “This is very, very unfair. Another example of how whites are being treated horribly in this country.”

Trump then went on a nonsensical tangent that even the Easter Bunny didn’t understand. Eventually, he gave up and said, “What the Hell are you talking about?”

“I’m shocked I have clothes on too”, said Lizzo, as she walked on stage for her first time hosting “SNL.” The singer pulled double duty as guest star and musical talent. Although this was her first time hosting, its her second time as musical guest.

She goes on to mention how it’s important for fans to know that she has different parts of her personality that led to her giving a Ted Talk on a culturally relevant topic. “The Lizzo you see on stage is different from the real me, I got a serious side as well,” Lizzo said. “Like last year I had the honor of giving a Ted talk. It was about twerking.”

She continues, “It was about the history of twerking and how it comes from West African dances like Mapouka. Yeah. Deeper than you thought. Right?”

Also during her monologue, Lizzo nodded to the TikTok she created about her celebrity crush in August 2021, where she joked about being pregnant with Evans’ baby.

The singer addressed the fan “gossip” that she’s “dating every little white boy in Hollywood,” including every member of One Direction and, of course, Captain America. “I even heard that I’m pregnant with Chris Evans’ baby. I have no idea where that one started. It could be the TikTok I did where I said, ‘I’m pregnant with Chris Evans’ baby,’” she said, breaking out into laughter. “It’s called manifesting.”

News segment “Weekend Update” hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che addressed a number of news stories, from the New York City Brooklyn subway shooting, President Joe Biden’s approval rating, and Musk’s bid to takeover Twitter.

“Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for over $40 billion so he can loosen its free speech rules,” Che said, before adding, “That’s how badly white guys want to use the ‘n-word.’”

“Honestly, I don’t understand why Elon even wants to own Twitter,” Jost said. “It used to be something that seemed important and even fun and now you look at it and it’s confusing and depressing. It’s the Giuliani of apps.”

“And come on, Elon built electric cars, he’s going to Mars, why is he even involving himself with Twitter?” Jost continued. “It would be like if the Prince of England gave it all up just to marry an actor from ‘Suits.’ Plus, Twitter isn’t even that profitable anymore. It just feels like a bad business decision. And I say that as someone who bought a Staten Island Ferry with Pete [Davidson].”

At the end of “Weekend Update,” the show paid tribute to the passing of Gilbert Gottfried who died earlier this week after a lengthy illness. He was a cast member on “SNL” in 1980.

Lizzo and a multitude of other cast members star in another Tik-Tok related skit. It’s from the view point of someone mindlessly scrolling through the social media app, distracting themselves from studying.

In this nostalgic, precise pop culture moment, two music producers in 2008 played by Lizzo and Aidy Bryant, try to help the Black Eyed Peas (Kenan Thompson, Cecily Strong, Chris Redd, Bowen Yang) come up with lyrics for their hit songs.

“SNL” will return May 7, with host Benedict Cumberbatch and musical guest Arcade Fire.