Photo of Donald Trump by Richard Ellis
Saturday Night Live's decision for Donald Trump to host its Nov. 7 episode is drawing two-fold criticism from Hispanic groups, which are calling on the NBC sketch comedy show to "rescind" the invitation.
The National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda—the latter of which represents 40 of the largest Latino organizations in America—have slammed the show for allowing the reality television personality and Republican presidential candidate such a platform, calling it an obvious ratings ploy.
“Donald Trump has yet to apologize for his bigoted comments about Mexican immigrants," the groups said in a joint letter to NBC and Saturday Night Live's executive producer Lorne Michaels. "Allowing Trump to host SNL will legitimize and validate his anti-Latino comments. We are appalled that you would enable Trump’s hateful speech for nothing less than a [ratings] ploy and ask that you rescind the SNL invitation.”
A MoveOn petition started by Venezuelan immigrant Juan Escalante called Trump's hosting gig hypocritical on the part of NBC, given how the network in July dissolved its relationship with the real estate mogul over his racist comments, ultimately putting a stop to his tenure as host of The Apprentice.
» Why We Need More Hispanics on TV
"It's hypocritical of them to go back and put Donald Trump on as the face of the program," Escalante said in his petition, which currently has nearly 24,000 signatures. "It tells me they don't really care about Latinos and that they'll do anything to get ratings."
Additionally, the issue has renewed criticism of SNL's lack of casting diversity, as activists have noted that in 41 seasons, only two of the show's players (Horatio Sanz and Fred Armisen, who is half-Venezuelan) have been of Hispanic descent. Because there has yet to be a Hispanic female cast member, current player Cecily Strong (who is of Italian and German descent) tends to fill Latina roles as needed.
As LA Weekly points out, less than a dozen of the show's past hosts have been Hispanic, while Rob Schneider—whose mother is half-Filipino—is the lone Asian-American to have ever been a part of the SNL cast.
The criticism comes two years after SNL drew ire for not including African-American females among its ranks, which prompted the hiring of Sasheer Zamata and Leslie Jones.
As we mentioned in our piece from earlier this year, Why We Need More Hispanics on TV, Hispanics are now the largest ethnic minority in the U.S., representing 17% of the population. And with the presidential election just over a year away, Latinos are expected to play a major role, perhaps even a deciding factor in who wins the White House.
A rep for Saturday Night Live did not immediately reply to a request for comment.