“There’s no such thing as bad publicity” is a public-relations adage that proved true again last week, as the furor over Donald Trump’s appearance as guest host of “Saturday Night Live” helped the show to its highest ratings since January 2012.
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On Saturday, Donald Trump parodied himself in the Oval Office on “Saturday Night Live”, halfway into his first term, getting glowing reports from his cabinet. And everyone knows a Joe Lieberman-hosted campaign event circa 2003 was approximately as entertaining television as Saturday Night Live.
Trump seemed to be expecting that and the camera panned over revealing Larry David as the culprit.
“Trump’s a racist!” David shouted at the end of the GOP presidential candidate’s monologue.
That guy was Larry David, who appeared in the episode’s cold open as Bernie Sanders.
Early numbers showed that the Trump episode brought in a 6.6 household rating.
“As a businessman, I can fully respect that”, Trump joked back. “I heard if I yelled that, they’d give me $5,000”, said David with a shrug, echoing an offer made publicly by one of the Hispanic groups protesting Trump’s appearance. The business magnate’s appearance on the show had been prefaced by weeks of controversy (over his history of racist remarks) with figures including LA R&B singer Miguel and advocacy group Deport Racism raising concerns about SNL lending their platform to Trump.
The younger Trump, who is pregnant with her third child, wore metallic pumps from her own line on set.
Trump, “The Apprentice” host and presidential aspirant, told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly on Friday that he “had to” turn down certain skits for the “SNL” episode because a few of them contained too dirty acts. “Huge”, Trump might say, who previously hosted the show in 2004.
Trump, who hosted the show once before in 2004, spent the evening satirizing his imaginary presidency, but steered clear of jokes about his hardline views on immigration.
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Trump’s known penchant for tweeting was also integrated into the show – as well as his not-so-talked about dance skills, put to use during a recreation of Drake’s viral video “Hotline Bling”.
