Elon Musk says he is ‘first person with Asperger’s’ to host SNL

The world’s second-richest man, Elon Musk, has told viewers of US sketch show Saturday Night Live that he has Asperger’s Syndrome.

In his opening monologue, the billionaire entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX offered an explanation for some of his past behaviour.

“Look, I know I say or post strange things but that’s just how my brain works. To anyone I’ve offended I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship,” he said. “Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?”

Musk has previously drawn criticism for publicly mocking the US Securities and Exchange Commission and calling a cave diver who rescued boys trapped in Thailand a “pedo guy”.

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But on SNL, the billionaire took swipes at his own expense. He joked about his tweets, his son’s name – X Æ A-12 – and that time he smoked weed on a podcast.

And of course, as a big booster of cryptocurrencies, he once again enumerated the benefits of dogecoin.

Pressed on what exactly dogecoin is, Musk called the cryptocurrency – which now has a market value of around $72 billion – “an unstoppable vehicle that’s going to take over the world”.

But then he agreed that actually “it’ a hustle”.

Musk also introduced his mother, Maye, who said she was excited for her Mother’s Day gift. “I just hope it’s not dogecoin,” she joked.