イーロン・マスク氏、米人気番組で司会　アスペルガー症候群で「初」

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米電気自動車（ＥＶ）大手テスラと宇宙開発企業スペースＸを率いるイーロン・マスク氏は８日、米人気コメディー番組「サタデー・ナイト・ライブ」に初出演し、同番組でのアスペルガー症候群の司会者は自分が初めてだと述べた。（写真はテスラの最高経営責任者＜ＣＥＯ＞イーロン・マスク氏）
　「もしくは少なくとも（アスペルガー症候群だと）認めたのは初めてだ」としたマスク氏はオープニングトークで、批判を呼んだこれまでの自身の行為に言及。「私は変なことを言ったり投稿したりすることを自覚しているが、それは私の脳がそのように働くというだけだ」と説明した。
　「私が気分を害した人に対しては、こう言いたい。私は電気自動車を再発明し、宇宙船で火星に人を送ろうとしている」とし、「私が冷静で普通の男でもあると思ったか？」と問い掛けた。
　マスク氏はこれまで、米証券取引委員会（ＳＥＣ）を公然とばかにしたり、タイで洞窟に閉じ込められた少年らを救助したダイバーを「小児愛者の男」と呼んだりし、批判を浴びていた。
　番組内でマスク氏は、自身の行為に自虐的に言及。ツイッター投稿の内容や、息子の名前「Ｘ A Ａ－１２」のほか、コメディアンのジョー・ローガン氏のポッドキャスト番組内で大麻を吸引したことを冗談めかして紹介した。
　マスク氏はさらに暗号資産（仮想通貨）「ドージコイン」の魅力を改めて語った。仮想通貨情報サイト「コインデスク」によると、同氏の出演を前にドージコインの価格は約７４セントまで上昇したが、番組放送中に４９セントまで下がった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/05/10-12:27）

Elon Musk kicked off his Saturday Night Live debut by declaring himself to be the first person with Asperger's syndrome to host the US comedy sketch show.
Or at least, the first person to admit it, he said.
In his opening monologue, the eccentric tech entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX offered an explanation for some of his past eyebrow-raising behavior.
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 moves like publicly mocking the US Securities and Exchange Commission and calling a cave diver who rescued boys trapped in Thailand a pedo guy.
But on SNL, the billionaire took swipes at his own expense. He joked about his tweets, his son's unusual name -- X Æ A-12 -- and that time he smoked weed on Joe Rogan's 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's a hustle.
For the second time in a week, the world's second-richest person seemed to drive the value of the digital asset. Not long after its recent surge after Musk's Twitter endorsement, it was sent on a brief tailspin during his SNL performance.
It dropped to as low as 49 cents during the broadcast after a pre-show high of about 74 cents, according to CoinDesk.
During the show, cast members wondered aloud why exactly the tech billionaire would want to join their set.
With a segment of a Chinese rocket re-entering Earth's atmosphere around the time of the live broadcast, they concluded that the spaceman needed an alibi.