{"id":492701,"date":"2021-05-10T14:20:43","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T18:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=492701"},"modified":"2021-05-10T14:20:45","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T18:20:45","slug":"snl-ratings-soar-following-elon-musk-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/snl-ratings-soar-following-elon-musk-appearance\/","title":{"rendered":"SNL Ratings Soar Following Elon Musk Appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsnl-ratings-soar-following-elon-musk-appearance%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=492701&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1232778165.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>Though Saturday Night Live has been struggling in the ratings since the Presidential election, the show still scores big when it invites nonconformists to the main stage. The latest case-in-point: Elon Musk.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The self-proclaimed moderate is known for sharing Babylon Bee satire, opposing Covid shutdowns, and cryptically<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/elon-musk-take-the-red-pill\"> <span>encouraging<\/span><\/a><span> his Twitter followers to \u201ctake the red pill\u201d \u2014 common slang for becoming a conservative. So it was hardly surprising when<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/if-oprah-or-tyler-perry-was-coming-wed-be-all-excited-about-it-snl-star-continues-defending-elon-musk-appearance-against-co-stars-complaints\"> <span>some cast members<\/span><\/a><span> weren\u2019t exactly thrilled to hear NBC had invited the bombastic billionaire to host the show on May 8. Viewers, however, had a different reaction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>With Musk in the spotlight, the show achieved the third-highest ratings of the season, up 33% from the three previous episodes. Look closely at the other two highly rated hosts, and you\u2019ll notice a pattern.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Dave Chappelle, who earned the biggest audience of SNL\u2019s 46th season, has been an outspoken critic of cancel culture,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/dave-chappelle-no-one-can-be-woke-enough?%3Futm_source=facebook&#038;utm_medium=social&#038;utm_campaign=proamerica\"> <span>complaining<\/span><\/a><span> that no one is \u201cwoke enough\u201d for the new left and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/90397293\/dave-chappelles-new-netflix-special-proves-hes-too-obsessed-with-cancel-culture-to-write-good-jokes\"> <span>predicting<\/span><\/a><span> they\u2019re \u201cgoing to get everybody eventually\u201d if their efforts to silence and punish speech aren\u2019t thwarted. \u201cYou\u2019re not gonna nag people into behaving,\u201d the comedian told Joe Rogan on his May 7 podcast where he defended Musk\u2019s appearance, adding, \u201cIn fact, if you continue with this tone, even if you\u2019re right, you\u2019ll be very hard to hear.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>SNL\u2019s second biggest ratings winner this year, SNL alum Chris Rock, isn\u2019t quite as brash as Musk or Chappelle, but he, too, has signaled that he has serious problems with a movement that tries to destroy careers over jokes that were perfectly acceptable a few years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rock defended fellow comedian Jimmy Fallon when would-be cancellers came after \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d host for donning blackface in skits two decades earlier. \u201cHey, man, I\u2019m friends with Jimmy. Jimmy\u2019s a great guy. And he didn\u2019t mean anything,\u201d Rock told the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/09\/16\/arts\/television\/chris-rock-fargo.html\"> <span>New York Times<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cA lot of people want to say intention doesn\u2019t matter, but it does. And I don\u2019t think Jimmy Fallon intended to hurt me. And he didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rock has also indicated his awareness that he could be next on the chopping block if he says the wrong thing. Asked if the woke are going too far in censoring blackface episodes of older comedies, Rock<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/tv\/news\/chris-rock-weighs-in-on-jimmy-fallon-blackface-impression-he-didnt-mean-anything\/ar-BB1976fV\"> <span>responded<\/span><\/a><span>, \u201cIf I say they are, then I\u2019m the worst guy in the world. There\u2019s literally one answer that ends my whole career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Back in 2015, before cancel culture reached its zenith, Rock was sounding the alarm in even bolder tones, telling<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/2014\/11\/chris-rock-frank-rich-in-conversation.html\"> <span>New York Magazine<\/span><\/a><span> that he doesn\u2019t play college campuses anymore because students are \u201cunlearning liberty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rock described college kids recording his material in early development stages in the hopes of finding something problematic. \u201cYou can\u2019t even be offensive on your way to being inoffensive,\u201d he complained, saying it\u2019s a problem for the comedy business, in particular, because, \u201cIf you think you don\u2019t have room to make mistakes, it\u2019s going to lead to safer, gooier stand-up. You can\u2019t think the thoughts you want to think if you think you\u2019re being watched.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And yet, those willing to think those thoughts and then go even further by expressing them out loud often win the allegiance of the public, who express their gratitude with their eyeballs. That\u2019s something SNL Creator Lorne Michaels seems to realize, even if some of his young, woke cast members don\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI think Lorne recognizes if he just keeps playing to liberals on the coasts, his audience will wither. So he\u2019s trying something,\u201d an anonymous late-night television veteran and friend of Michaels told the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2021\/05\/07\/elon-musk-snl-why-lorne\/\"> <span>Washington Post<\/span><\/a><span> last week of NBC\u2019s decision to invite Musk.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If the network wants its flagship comedy show to\u00a0stay relevant, it better keep trying it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Megan Basham (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/megbasham\">@megbasham<\/a>) is the entertainment reporter for The Daily Wire. She\u2019s a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic who was previously an entertainment editor and podcast co-host for World Magazine.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Though Saturday Night Live has been struggling in the ratings since the Presidential election, the show still scores big when it invites nonconformists to the main stage. The latest case-in-point: &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2277692,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1232778165.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"SNL Ratings Soar Following Elon Musk Appearance","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1232778165.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"SNL Ratings Soar Following Elon Musk Appearance","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}