Civil Rights Petition Urges ‘SNL’ to Scrap Donald Trump’s Guest Host Appearance

The online civil rights organization ColorOfChange.org is petitioning NBC to cancel Donald Trump’s guest host appearance on “Saturday Night Live” planned for this weekend.

In only three days, the site has collected around 30,000 signatures. “We saw the overwhelming response from Latino groups calling on SNL and its leadership in talking about his anti-immigrant comments, his racist comments,” Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org executive director, told USA TODAY. “We wanted to step up and add our voices to the chorus … also to elevate his ongoing racist comments about the black community,” Robinson said.

“As one of the most popular late-night sketch comedy shows of all time,” the petition states, “SNL has a wide influence on pop culture. By selecting Donald Trump as a host, they legitimize Trump’s campaign rhetoric — which is rooted in racism and fear-mongering — and make the real-world violence he incites against people of color a laughing matter.

“It is irresponsible and dangerous for NBC to provide Trump with a free national platform to further fan the flames of racial intolerance,” the site continues. “Given SNL’s appalling history of black and brownface, discriminatory hiring practices, and consistently reproducing some of the most dehumanizing stereotypes of Black and Brown folks, we already know that they will do almost anything to appeal to lowest common denominator.”

From USA Today:

The petition is latest in a crescendo of voices that have emerged in an attempt to block the broadcast. On Wednesday, activists gathered in front of NBC headquarters in New York to push for another guest host. They tweeted with the hashtag #RacismIsntFunny, the Huffington Post reported. The protest was organized by Juan Escalante, director of digital campaigns for America’s Voice, a group advocating for immigration reform.

The Deport Racism political action committee says it is offering $5,000 to anyone who will shout out during the live broadcast that Trump is a racist.

“We understand the power of shows like Saturday Night Live — it’s not just comedy, it’s people’s lives, it attacks their real lives,” Robinson said. “They know that people are paying attention and so they’ve got to ask themselves … are Donald Trump’s comments funny to them.”

NBC’s media relations department did not respond to an email requesting reaction to the petition. Earlier this year, the network fired Trump as host of The Celebrity Apprentice after his comments on immigration began receiving widespread attention.

Read more here.

–Posted by Roisin Davis