Pressure mounts on SNL to cancel Donald Trump appearance
Saturday Night Live has come under mounting pressure to cancel Donald Trump’s appearance as host of the show early next month.
Latino advocacy groups, politicians and media observers have lobbied NBC for its decision to have the controversial Republican presidential front-runner host its comedy show on 7 November.
The pressure stems from the tycoon turned reality TV star’s inflammatory remarks regarding Mexican immigrants which he made in his June speech announcing his presidential run.
The latest high profile figure to ramp up the pressure on NBC is Congressman for Illinois, Luis Gutiérrez, who sent a letter to chairman of Comcast, Brian Roberts, and NBC president, Stephen Burke.
In the letter Gutiérrez said having Trump host the show represented a “level of endorsement that says to America that every hateful and racist thing Donald Trump has said is since the moment he launched his campaign is acceptable and no big deal.”
The Congressman criticised NBC for its decision to allow Trump back on the air after firing him from “The Apprentice” because his presidential campaign had made him a “ratings and comedy bonanza”. He also likened the appearance to "90 minutes of free airtime" for Trump's campaign.
Gutierrez also took his campaign to the house floor Wednesday where he asked "if Donald Trump had said gays and lesbians were murdering and raping Americans, would he get to host the show?"
Gutierrez’s remarks add to mounting pressure aimed at NBC which began with a letter from the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda which is a coalition of 40 civil rights and policy organizations. The group issued a letter to SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels and NBCUniversal chief executive Stephen Burke, urging them to rescind the invitation.
The letter said the group was "appalled that you would enable Trump's hateful speech for nothing more than a ratings ploy” and argued that the appearance would "validate" Trump's stated opinion of immigrants.
NPR television critic Eric Deggans took a similar position in his npr column which suggested that Trump’s scheduled appearance highlighted the continued diversity problem at the comedy show, pointing out that it has only had two Latino cast members in its 40-year history.
Despite his controversial stance on a number of issues Trump has continued to boost TV ratings wherever he appears including "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" which saw its best ratings in 18 months when Trump was interviewed and "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" had its biggest audience since launch when he was a guest.