The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

SNL Trump hosting stirs up controversy with public

Presidential candidate and frontrunner for the Republican vote Donald Trump hosted Saturday Night Live on Nov. 7, collecting a vast amount of both positive, and negative attention.

Among jokes about Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, Trump joined skits that included him being a ‘Tax Guy’ in the notable ‘Hotline Bling’ parody, a neglected laser harp player and even one in which he appeared as president of the United States and had Omarosa, infamous for her appearance on Trump’s former reality show “The Apprentice,” as his “madam secretary.”

Senior Joseph Belusic, a Trump fan himself, enjoyed the former Apprentice star as the host of the show. During Trump’s opening skit, actor Larry David said he was given five thousand dollars to interrupt Trump by yelling “You’re a racist.” Belusic thought this was a clever way of playing off of the negative media attention.

“I loved the beginning part. I thought they played off the ‘you’re racist’ thing really well,” he said.

However, not everyone felt the same way towards Trump’s hosting.

Many students, along with members of the American public, chose not to watch the episode because Trump was the host. In the past, Trump’s outspoken, and arguably offensive, views have been frowned upon by minority groups.

“I’m tired of his antics just to get attention and I’m tired of the American people giving him the attention he wants,” said junior Miguel Vasquez. “He’s a bigot who could potentially be a huge danger to our country if he were to come into power.”

When Trump’s hosting was first announced in October, many throughout the public, including latino minority groups, criticized NBC and SNL for allowing the Republican candidate to appear on their set. The negative opinions towards Trump stemmed from his comments towards hispanic and latino groups.

The news of his hosting generated so much controversy that Luis Gutierrez, a Democratic congressman from Illinois, gave a speech about the issue on the floor of the House of Representatives.

In an interview with NPR, Luis Gutierrez noted the widespread problems with having Trump on SNL.

“They’re saying it’s OK to say these things,” he said. And, it’s not OK and I don’t think Americans think it’s OK.”

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