Don’t expect to see Donald Trump or Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live this fall — they’ve been given the ban hammer!
SNL‘s creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels just made it very clear in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter: NO politicians! While speaking to the outlet, the 79-year-old explained how if he were to allow Trump or Harris on the TV show’s stage, he’d be legally obligated to allow them both on the air — as well as as any/all of their third party opponents:
“You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions. You can’t have the main candidates without having all the candidates, and there are lots of minor candidates that are only on the ballot in, like, three states and that becomes really complicated.”
Yup, he’s saying if he invited the Democratic and Republican nominees, he’d have to give equal runtime to the likes of fringe candidates including Cornel West, Jill Stein, and Chase Oliver, too. So, he’s just going to continue with Maya Rudolph portraying Harris and James Austin Johnson as Trump.
Simple enough! However… this isn’t coinciding with his past decisions!! Wait, what??
Related: Even Melania Trump Is Against Trump & Vance On Abortion! Whoa!
Back in 2015, Trump himself hosted SNL right in the midst of when he was competing for the GOP nomination alongside 13 other candidates. NBC made sure to offer up his airtime — 12 minutes and 15 seconds — to his opponents, too. But even so, this wasn’t the only situation in which they’ve done this. Back in 2008 Sarah Palin appeared in a sketch alongside Tina Fey, and in 2007 Barack Obama appeared on the program just months after announcing he’d be running for president.
So what’s up with this sudden rule change? Michaels said it’s all because of his vision for the upcoming 50th season of the show. He explained to THR that he wants to focus on letting comedians shine on the show as they do their political impersonations, rather than bringing out the actual politicians for skits and sketches.
It doesn’t seem like Trump and Harris’ ban is meant to last forever, tho. Michaels did say that he’d welcome them on the show after the November 4 election. But until then, he wants to keep making fun of both angles of the political spectrum rather than picking a side.
What do U think about Lorne’s decision, Perezcious readers? Let us know (below).
[Image via MEGA/WENN/SNL/YouTube]
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