NBC Urged To Drop Donald Trump As ‘SNL’ Host By Latino Groups & MoveOn

A coalition of Latino groups and liberal online activist platform MoveOn.org are calling for NBC to disinvite GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump from hosting Saturday Night Live on November 7, which happens to be exactly one year from Election Day 2016. MoveOn.org’s petition has climbed from 15,000 signatures Friday evening to 117,000 and counting as of Sunday evening.

After the candidate disparaged immigrants crossing the border into the U.S. from Mexico as murderers and rapists, many Latino groups welcomed NBC cutting its ties to Trump on the Miss Universe Pageant and Celebrity Apprentice. But after the network’s announcement this week that Trump would host SNL, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda wrote NBC Universal CEO Stephen Burke and SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels that “we are appalled … and ask that you rescind the SNL invitation.”

Trump, when questioned about his standing among Latinos this week, told Fox News he’s “doing very well with Hispanics” in polls. He remains the solid frontrunner among GOP hopefuls and his presence has boosted ratings for Fox News and CNN coverage of the Republican debates to record levels. Trump also has juiced ratings with appearances on late night talk shows The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon on NBC and CBS’ Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Trump also is scheduled to appear this coming week on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. He has also been a regular participant on Sunday morning network news shows.

Trump hosted SNL back in 2004, but his upcoming gig would mark the first time a Presidential candidate will host the show. As Hillary Clinton did on October 3, other political figures such as Steve Forbes, Rudy Guiliani and John McCain and have appeared in skits but not hosted the show. Former Vice President Al Gore appeared as a host in 2002.

Echoing criticism by the coalition of Latino groups, the MoveOn petition says, NBC “is providing a platform for Trump’s insulting attacks on immigrants and calling it entertainment — something we do not find funny.”