Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has expressed his disapproval of a recent Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit that satirised last week’s tense White House meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Responding to a clip of the parody on X (formerly Twitter), Musk dismissed the sketch, writing, “Humour fails when it lies,” criticising SNL’s depiction of the political encounter.
SNL’s take on Trump, Ukraine and Musk
Titled Elon Musk’s Cold Open, the skit featured James Austin Johnson as Trump, alongside Bowen Yang as Vice President JD Vance, confronting Mikey Day’s Zelenskyy over the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war.
A surprise twist saw Tesla CEO Elon Musk portrayed by SNL alumnus Mike Myers, clad in a long black coat and wielding a chainsaw.
The sketch began with Johnson’s Trump introducing himself as the “President and CEO of Gaza Hotel and Casino” before welcoming Zelenskyy with an absurd remark: “Welcome to this incredible trap; it’s going to be a big, beautiful trap and we’re going to attack him very soon for no reason.”
Yang’s JD Vance added to the parody, quipping, “Watch out, ‘cause this kitty’s got claws.”
One of the standout comedic moments came when Trump mockingly complimented Zelenskyy’s attire: “Love the casual Star Trek look. It’s a great show because there’s no DEI. The white guy was the leader, and he bossed around Spock, who I believe was Guatemalan.”
SNL mocks Musk and the white house meeting
The skit also depicted Trump suggesting Zelenskyy apologise to Russian President Vladimir Putin and offer his wife as a peace offering. This led to a dramatic outburst from Yang’s JD Vance, who shouted, “What happened to ‘thank you’? You haven’t said thank you once in the past 15 seconds I’ve been yelling at you!”
SNL further exaggerated Trump’s speech, with him rattling off a list of random items: “I have the cards. I have Skip. I have Draw Four. I have Reverse. I have Get Out of Jail Free—the Supreme Court gave me that one. I have Pikachu, Charmander and Charizard. All I’m missing is a Charmeleon.”
However, the moment that drew Musk’s ire was when Mike Myers, playing Musk, entered with a chainsaw and declared, “They’re saying I’m firing people with no cause. But I do have cause. It’s ‘cause I feel like it.”
The real white house dispute
The SNL skit parodied the high-stakes White House meeting that took place last Friday between Trump and Zelenskyy. In reality, Zelenskyy sought security assurances from the US amid Ukraine’s war with Russia, while Trump pressured him for concessions to hasten a resolution.
Tensions rose when Vance accused Zelenskyy of not expressing enough gratitude for U.S. aid, despite Zelenskyy beginning the meeting with words of thanks. The discussion became more heated when Trump interrupted him, saying, “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.”
The meeting concluded without a resolution. Trump scrapped a planned joint press conference and canceled the signing of a minerals agreement, with the Ukrainian delegation ultimately being asked to leave.