Entertainment –
Saturday Night Live Protests Over Trump
Despite tens of thousands of signed petitions and hundreds of in-person protesters in opposition, Donald Trump hosted NBC’s Saturday Night Live this past weekend. It did not go well.
Entertainment
Protestors gathered early Saturday evening at Midtown Manhattan’s Trump Tower, then headed over to NBC demanding a change. Police barricades surrounded the perimeter of 30 Rockefeller Plaza at NBC Studios in New York, as crowds of more than 500 protesters shouted “Shut it down!”
Amid colorful signs depicting the Republican presidential candidate as a pile of excrement, protesters tried right up to the start of the live broadcast to convince NBC to remove Trump from the comedy program.
“What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” the crowd commanded.
The protest was organized by several Hispanic advocacy groups, with one group offering $5,000 in cash to any Saturday Night Live audience member willing to yell “Racist!” on live television during Trump’s episode. Following incendiary comments Trump made last summer about immigrants, which included describing some Mexicans in the U.S. illegally as criminals and rapists, the ire against him is not surprising.
NBC is giving Trump a platform for “vitriolic, racist rhetoric,” said protester Mike Bento, who considers Trump’s statements on immigration racist and offensive.
Despite the emotionally charged atmosphere and the passion of the protesters, Saturday Night Live executives proceeded as planned with Donald Trump as host.
After watching the live broadcast, it didn’t take long to realize NBC should have listened to the protesters and canceled Trump as host after all.
Entertainment
The hour and a half comedy show with Trump as host was boring. No, scratch that — it was downright bad. Donald Trump was not funny. As in NOT. AT. ALL. Maybe he was playing it safe amid all the protesters, or maybe he’s just not that funny. However, the evening was a definite dud. It was so bad, even the cast of regulars weren’t into it.
“I don’t want to be in this sketch anymore,” said Vanessa Beyer during a bit in which an off-stage Trump pretended to tweet mean comments about the performers. Although Beyer’s sentiment were meant as a joke, her words felt very much like truth.
One of the low points (and there were many) occurred during a sketch depicting a President Trump’s cabinet 2 years into his term, with Trump telling his team “I don’t have to get specific” about policy.
“With me, it’s just magic,” he said, referring to his campaign-trail promise that a Trump administration would be so great, Americans would “get tired of winning.” Yawn!
Trump’s funniest moment didn’t involve him at all, but was only about him. It occurred when actor Larry David stood at the side of the stage and yelled “racist” during Trump’s monologue, saying he heard he could make $5,000 for doing so. It was a nice, but rare 3 second chuckle.
Aside from the fact that Donald Trump was god awful as host of Saturday Night Live, keeping him on as host sent a negative message to Hispanic immigrants who are offended by his racist rants.
If anything, the big winner of the night was NBC. The hundreds of protesters outside of 30 Rock brought tons of media and free press for the network. It also caused everyone around the world to tune into Saturday Night Live just to watch Trump and see what all the fuss was about.
Sadly, I was one of the millions watching the show live. It’s just too bad I can’t get those 90 minutes of my life back!
I don't care how high the ratings were….
As DJ expressed, the reviews mostly stink. And IMO, NBC and SNL are both losers. No way they would have invited Trump to host SNL had his remarks been overtly racist against Blacks or anti-semitic against Jews. No way.
I didn't watch any of it. Frankly, I've reached a tipping point with Trump…and Ben Carson too…for that matter. I can barely stand to watch, or listen to, either of those two characters anymore.
They're both so full of isht that it's not funny.