Elon Musk was one of the most controversial “Saturday Night Live” hosts in recent memory. But as it turns out, the billionaire entrepreneur won’t be winning any awards for his guest gig because NBC opted not to submit him for the 2021 Emmys.
When the Emmy ballots were unveiled on June 17, Musk’s name was nowhere to be found, which means Television Academy members cannot vote for him to receive a nomination. However, nine of his fellow “SNL” hosts were entered for awards consideration in the comedy guest categories: Dave Chappelle, Daniel Kaluuya, Dan Levy, John Mulaney, Rege-Jean Page, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, Anya Taylor-Joy and Kristen Wiig. In addition, Alec Baldwin and Jim Carrey have been submitted as guests for playing Donald Trump and Joe Biden, respectively.
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It’s not unusual for some hosts to be left off the Emmy ballot, particularly when you consider there are always about 20 episodes per season. Not everyone has a realistic shot of reaping a nomination, so NBC picks and chooses their best and buzziest hosts of the year. Performers who aren’t officially submitted by the network can still opt to submit themselves, just as Kevin Hart did in 2018 and Ariana Grande did in 2016. Of course, Musk didn’t choose that option. Perhaps he’s too busy counting his bitcoin?
Musk isn’t alone. The other “Saturday Night Live” Season 46 hosts who aren’t being considered for Emmys this time around are Adele, Jason Bateman, Bill Burr, Timothée Chalamet, Nick Jonas, Keegan-Michael Key, Regina King, John Krasinski, Carey Mulligan and Issa Rae.
All of the sketch comedy’s regular cast members and featured players are eligible in the supporting races: Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, Beck Bennett, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Ego Nwodim, Chris Redd, Melissa Villaseñor, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Lauren Holt, Punkie Johnson and Bowen Yang.
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Heading into Musk’s episode, which aired May 8 with musical guest Miley Cyrus, the Tesla CEO received a lot of flack online — including from some of the show’s cast members. Yang wrote “What the f–k does this even mean?” when Musk tweeted he was excited to see how “live” the show was. And Bryant retweeted a post from Bernie Sanders who said it was a “moral obscenity” for billionaires to own so much of the nation’s wealth.
For Musk’s opening monologue, he started off by insisting it was an honor to be hosting “SNL,” adding that he doesn’t much “intonational variation” when he speaks. He then made waves when he claimed he was the first person with Asperger’s to host the 46-year-old program. His mom, Maye, then joined him on stage to help celebrate Mother’s Day.
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