On June 15, Jake Novak posted a video that immediately entered TikTok infamy. In the minute-long clip, Novak pitches himself directly to Lorne Michaels with a simple (musical) plea: "I want to be the next SNL cast member!" It ... did not go well. In an instant, Novak became the King of TikTok Cringe. Users stitched his video to make fun of him, rifled through his past (and also cringey) work, and even former SNL cast member Leslie Jones commented with a facepalm emoji. Novak did not acknowledge any of the criticism and has yet to post anything on social media since the SNL clip fiasco began. His silence led to even more intrigue: Where was the man who had taken TikTok by hatestorm? "Of course, I would like it if people like the stuff that I do, but I understand not everything is for everybody. I made a thing that you thought sucked. Don’t come after me in my real life. Just leave me alone," he says in response to the internet's collective negative reaction. At the link in bio, 7 weeks after the video went viral, Novak agreed to speak out about the aftermath and what he’s taken away from the experience. 📹: @whoisjakenovak