Elon Musk has revealed he has Asperger's syndrome, having told viewers while hosting Saturday Night Live yesterday in what is believed to be the first time he has spoken about it publicly.
Musk, 49, said in his opening monologue that he was 'making history' as the first person with Asperger's to host the show.
The Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder began: "It's an honour to be hosting Saturday Night Live - I mean that. Sometimes after I say something, I have to say 'I mean that' so people really know that I mean it.
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"That's because I don't always have a lot of intonational variation in how I speak - which I'm told makes for great comedy.
"I'm actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger's to host SNL."
As the audience applauded, Musk added with a smile: "Or at least the first person to admit it."
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He continued to joke that this meant he wouldn't 'make a lot of eye contact' with the cast, but was alright at 'running human in emulation mode'.
Later in his monologue, Musk spoke about his vision for a 'renewable energy future' saying: "I believe that humanity must become a multiplanetary, space-bearing civilization. Those seem like exciting goals, don't they?"
As cheers broke out from the audience, he went on to make several quips about his unusual Twitter presence, which can famously get a little weird at times.
"Now, I think if I just posted that on Twitter, I'd be fine," he continued.
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"But I also write things like, '69 days after 4/20 again haha'.
"I don't know, I thought it was funny - that's why I wrote 'haha' at the end.
"Look, I know I sometimes 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. Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?"
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He added: "A lot of times people are reduced to the dumbest thing they ever did. Like one time, I smoked weed on Joe Rogan's podcast. And now all I hear all the time is, 'Elon Musk, all he ever does is smoke weed on podcasts', like I go from podcast to podcast lighting up joints.
"It happened once. It's like reducing O.J. Simpson to 'murderer'. It happened one time! Fun fact: O.J. also hosted this show in '79. And again in '96. Killed both times."
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