When Elon Musk was first slated to host on SNL, I saw universal panning all over the Internet.

There was Facebook…

And Twitter…

And of course, there were some editorials and articles addressing SNL’s hosting choice.

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On Twitter, when someone boldly asked why there was so much contention towards Musk, they received a surplus of replies with varying reasons:

What is it about Musk, then, that garners such a passionate reaction, compared to other billionaires or CEOs? He’s certainly not the first polarizing figure in the richest-men-alive category. But, at the moment, he may be the most…

There are people who listen religiously to the ideas he shares about space travel, cryptocurrency, and renewable living, and laud him as a genius who’s going to propel humanity into an optimistic future. Making reusable rockets a reality and raising the status of electric cars can certainly support this side of things. He also does express enthusiasm about his projects publicly — despite what his deadpan delivery may tell you. And from reaching his base on the Joe Rogan podcast to making Tesla’s patents open to the public, he goes to great lengths to make his ideas known to everyone. He wants the world to know what he is doing and even how he is doing it, because as he sells it, these ideas are going to better humanity.

So, he’s trying to take us to Mars, build electric cars, and give people around the world better Internet access with Starlink. To people who adamantly dislike him, however, they argue that he’s just another billionaire who’s still done awful stuff. Look at the Twitter and Facebook comments above.

I wouldn’t call these nay-sayers wrong. He has spread dangerous misinformation about COVID-19, despite the fact that his own girlfriend Grimes contracted it. This rightfully angers people considering that he’s one of the richest and most influential people in the world. He has also garnered a notorious reputation for firing people unpredictably and being exhausting to work for — for better or worse. The anti-union sentiments he’s expressed, his demand for workers to return to the factory floor despite the pandemic (which has led to hundreds of COVID cases amongst his employees), and his brash statements on Twitter that even got him kicked off of the Tesla board has also led to disdain. All of his achievements and promises? It’s all an ego-boost — it’s a show. It’s not genuinely revolutionary.

Here’s what all of this means. People love him — and understandably so — and people hate him — also, understandably so. However, this seems to go beyond the “well, everyone is liked and disliked by people” argument. It’s not like he’s LeBron James or Miley Cyrus. He’s more like Trump: people either loathe him or worship him.

Elon Musk works hard to create the “savior genius” persona. His brand is centered completely around being THE guy who is smart enough, visionary enough, and bold enough to take leaps and bounds for the betterment of the human race. Bow down to the Technoking of Tesla.

And to that, I’m interjecting. No, he’s not the savior of everyone. For example, I believe that by releasing Tesla’s patents, he was (only?) supporting the savior brand. This move feels like it’s saying, “He’s such a great guy for letting the entire world know how to make electric cars” — even though he’s not the first brand to do so. And no, he’s not sharing anything particularly groundbreaking with these patents, either.

He displayed to a team of neuroscientists Gertrude the pig, who was implanted with a Neuralink to show results that were sold as groundbreaking — but to the neuroscientists seemed like overexaggerated hype. About the Neuralink, it’s not just about the underwhelming results, as that happens often with science. It’s the hubris behind it all — the promises that Musk makes that it will cure autism (not possible) and paralysis (maybe possible?), and that we would be able to communicate with our minds (don’t get me started…). Never mind the fact that Musk runs a company meant to implant chips into our brains — that may be another article later.

Besides all of that, though, is the pertinent question behind all the Internet raging: is this a celebrity that we’re supposed to dislike, as in, you’re an objectively bad person if you like him? Well, he’s not Hitler. So, calm down.

I certainly have my gripes with his persona. His ideas, bold as they are, are also not solving new problems — for example, he’s not the only one talking about sustainable living. He’s not someone to bow down to and respect.

However, while I understand the vitriol, please know that it’s what fuels people like Musk. It’s an ego boost, and this is a persona who lives on ego. His constant Twitter meme-ing, his SNL performance, his “antics” and bold claims — they’re all for attention.

If great things come out of Musk’s many empires, fantastic. I don’t want to squash them.

But in the meantime — all he really is, is a Cyber-Jesus. Let him be.