Saturday Night Live has had only two Latino cast members during its’ 40 year history, Fred Armisen and Horatio Sanz.
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Donald Trump’s unorthodox campaign for president will take another unusual step this weekend when he takes a break from typical campaigning to host “Saturday Night Live”.
But it was comedian Larry David, who moments earlier had performed his own impersonation of Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.
“Larry, what are you doing?”
Trump said the show should make for “a great evening”.
“I find it hurtful and insulting, and you’re celebrating someone who has said a few frightful things”. One joke – about Trump’s Republican presidential rival Ben Carson – had to be pulled from the episode promos. On Wednesday, activists gathered in front of NBC headquarters in New York to push for another guest host. Only one of those – the Rev. Al Sharpton, in 2003 – was actively involved in a presidential bid at the time.
NBC has also been denounced by Latino activist groups for giving Trump a national platform following his disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants. In Spanish, they chanted: “The people united shall never be defeated” and signs declared SNL racist.
“That’s right, I’m Bernie Sanders, and I want your vacuum pennies”, David’s Sanders said. I walk into the room.
A number of organizations and individuals, including members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and actor John Leguizamo, among others, have called on NBC to cancel Trump’s “SNL” invite over controversial comments he has made about illegal immigration. But leading up to Saturday’s broadcast, NBC did not respond to accusations that it had reversed itself, or to the outcry against Trump that had built since “SNL” announced his host booking last month.
It wasn’t Trump’s first turn as guest host.
Typically outspoken, Trump welcomed the controversy, predicting it would only boost his audience.
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“They know that people are paying attention and so they’ve got to ask themselves… are Donald Trump’s comments amusing to them”.
