The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, coalitions of Latino civil rights and public policy organizations, are demanding that Donald Trump be dropped as host of Saturday Night Live’s November 7 show.
This Thursday, the organizations sent a letter to SNL Executive Producer Lorne Michaels and NBC Chief Executive Officer Steve Burke, questioning how they can justify inviting the presidential hopeful to host the comedy sketch show after he blatantly criticized and offended Mexican immigrants during his campaign announcement earlier this year.
“Donald Trump has yet to apologize for his bigoted comments about Mexican immigrants. Allowing Trump to host SNL will legitimize and validate his anti-Latino comments,” stated the letter. “We are appalled that you would enable Trump’s hateful speech for nothing less than a rating ploy and ask that you rescind the SNL invitation.”
Michaels or any other spokesperson for the show have yet to comment on this matter.
The Latino activists also brought up the lack of casting of Hispanics over the 41 seasons that the show has been on air, during which time only two Latinos —Fred Armisen and Horatio Sanz— have been part of the show, with no Latina cast member.
In June, NBCUniversal cut ties with Trump and the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, stating, “At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values.” Now the Latino advocates are questioning the company’s move saying in its letter, “How does Comcast justify with one hand reaching out to Latino viewers on its English language platforms and on Telemundo, its Spanish-language network, while using the other hand to face slap us with this unconscionable invitation to Trump? How can a major U.S. corporation– who needs and wants Latino viewers– act so clueless?”
Donald Trump and Lorne Michaels have more similarities than probably visible. They’re both risible beings.