Hispanic lawmakers are calling on NBC and Saturday Night Live to “disinvite” Donald Trump from hosting this weekend’s episode of the late-night variety show, saying his comments about illegal immigrants have “created fear” in Latino communities across the country.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Sunday approved a “Statement of Opposition” urging NBC to rescind Trump’s hosting duties on the upcoming November 7 episode of SNL and to completely sever all future business relationships with the Republican presidential contender.
The statement approved by the 26-member Caucus headed by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) criticizes comments Trump made during his campaign announcement speech in the summer when the billionaire businessman struck a hard line against illegal immigration.
“Mr. Trump’s racist remarks and his continued rhetoric demonizing Latinos and immigrants has created fear within these communities around the country, many of which are represented in Congress by Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus,” the statement reads.
“Therefore, be it resolved that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus calls upon NBCUniversal, Broadway Video, and SNL Executive Producer Lorne Michaels to disinvite Mr. Trump from hosting Saturday Night Live because racism is not funny; and
Be it further resolved, that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus urges NBCUniversal to stand by its earlier commitment to end its relationship with Mr. Trump because the values of ‘respect and dignity for all people’ are more important than ratings and ad revenues.”
The lawmakers’ statement of opposition comes on the heels of mounting pressure on NBC to cancel Trump’s hosting gig. Hispanic advocacy groups began a Twitter campaign last week, using the hashtag #RacismIsntFunny to circulate petitions calling on NBC to disinvite Trump from hosting SNL. The website racismisntfunny.com claims that more than 460,000 people have signed the various petitions.
The petition campaign followed a letter written to NBCUniversal CEO Stephen Burke and SNL showrunner Lorne Michaels from the The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 40 advocacy groups that said they were “flabbergasted” that NBC would invite Trump to host the late-night variety show.
NBC will look for Trump to explode the ratings on SNL when he hosts on November 7. In September, Trump’s appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon gave that program its best Friday ratings boost in 18 months.