Newsmax
- A Newsmax segment on Elon Musk hosting "Saturday Night Live" devolved into chaos on Monday.
- Former Obama speechwriter David Litt had no intention of talking about Musk on SNL.
- Instead, he pressed the Newsmax host on the network's election lies and legal woes.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Despite airing lengthy legal disclaimers to mitigate the legal fallout from promoting easily debunked lies about the 2020 election being stolen, right-wing cable network Newsmax continues to be dogged by the "big lie."
In a Monday morning segment about billionaire Elon Musk hosting "Saturday Night Live," the guest brought on to discuss the subject had other plans in mind.
-Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) May 10, 2021
"I did not watch 'Saturday Night Live.' I watched the clips. The show is on too late. Quite frankly, I don't think it's that funny anymore," Finnerty opened the segment by saying before complimenting former President Donald Trump on the ratings he received when he hosted the show back in 2015.
The guest, former Obama speechwriter David Litt, almost immediately pivoted to Newsmax's role in spreading lies about the 2020 election.
"I mean, what happened on 'SNL' this weekend was that people made stuff up, and then said it on television like it's true," Litt said. "And that actually happens pretty frequently in American TV."
"For example, in 2020, Dominion Voting Systems sued Newsmax over its false claims about election fraud," he continued. "Newsmax was lying to its own viewers, and Newsmax had to settle that lawsuit. Actually, I need to check in - are you still telling that lie or are you telling new lies?"
Finnerty appeared caught off guard, and tried to pivot the segment back to the Tesla CEO and so-called Dogefather.
"Wait are we talking about - I'm sorry David, do you want to talk about something completely non-related and catch me on a Monday morning totally off topic, or do you want to talk about Elon Musk?" Finnerty said.
"Well, I can see why you don't want to talk about Dominion Voting Systems," Litt replied, "because, if you do, Newsmax could get sued and lose billions of dollars, because these are lies."
Finnerty made one last plea to return the segment to Elon Musk and only Elon Musk.
"David, David, David - listen, that's fine, David. I know this is a very funy moment for you. I'm sure you didn't sleep last night as you prepared to sort of try and get the morning anchor on Newsmax."
After Litt once again kept pressing Finnerty on the false claims surrounding the 2020 election, the host would not answer the guest's question on whether Dominion had any impact on the results.
"Oh that's unfortunate, because I was really excited about this interview," Finnerty said before cutting to commercial.