Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) took to the House floor on Thursday to encourage “Saturday Night Live” to disinvite Donald Trump from hosting the show this weekend.
She said his “racist” and “divisive” rhetoric on immigration should have disqualified him from the role.
{mosads}“Many may believe that Mr. Trump is just causing controversy so he can get media attention, but his divisive and racist rhetoric has very troubling and real-world consequences,” Sanchez said.
She added that Trump “degrades the quality of SNL’s humor, because racism isn’t funny, it’s lazy and it’s cheap.”
Sanchez said SNL’s lack of a Hispanic cast member may have blinded the show to the ramifications of giving Trump a national platform to advertise his presidential campaign.
“Perhaps this blunder happened because currently, there is no Latino cast member on SNL, and there have only been two in the entire history of SNL,” she said.
“I hope ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ producers, writers, and cast members will consider how Donald Trump hosting SNL will compromise the integrity of their show.”
Sanchez also criticized NBC for severing its ties with Trump, who formerly hosted “The Apprentice” on the network, only to invite him to appear on one of the network’s signature programs.
“Many businesses and individuals have severed ties with Mr. Trump, and even SNL’s owner, NBC Universal, stated that ‘At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values,’ and they ended their relationship with Mr. Trump,” she said.
The California Democrat has been a staunch critic of SNL and Trump, saying earlier this week that the comedy show is “endangering Latinos” by agreeing to let the GOP primary candidate host the show.
SNL released promos for the show, which is set to air on Nov. 7, on Wednesday.