WATCH | Elon Musk brutally roasted on SNL over South Africa roots

South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk has been given a brutal roasting on American comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL), with a joke about his country of birth becoming one of the highlights of the latest episode.

The Tesla and SpaceX boss was the subject of a Weekend Update sketch featuring comedian Jeremy Culhane, who impersonated Musk opposite Colin Jost.

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Bit of banter

In the segment, the fictional Musk turned to artificial intelligence chatbot Grok for a bit of banter.

However, the response was not quite what he would have hoped for.

Grok delivered a particularly savage assessment of the billionaire, declaring: “Elon Musk, you’re the worst thing South Africa has ever done.”

The punchline quickly turned the spotlight towards Musk’s South African origins, with the joke suggesting that even his own artificial intelligence chatbot had little sympathy for him.

Musk previously appeared on Saturday Night Live

Musk is no stranger to Saturday Night Live.

He appeared on the show in May 2021, taking part in several sketches and delivering the opening monologue.

At the time, he acknowledged that his public image was far from conventional.

“Did you think I would be a chill, normal dude?” Musk asked during the monologue, referring to his work in electric vehicles and space exploration.

More than five years later, the billionaire’s public image has become a frequent target of comedians and political commentators.

The latest SNL sketch adds South Africa to the punchline, reminding American audiences that the world’s most high-profile technology entrepreneur was born in Pretoria.

Musk’s fortune has ‘plummeted’ to $849.7 billion according to Forbes.

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