Donald Trump still doesn't like being lampooned by Saturday Night Live, even suggesting he should get "equal time" although he is no longer a candidate and would not qualify for it.
Following the latest Saturday Night Live broadcast (Nov. 19), the first post-election appearance of Alec Baldwin in his wicked impression of the now President-elect, Trump tweeted: "I watched parts of @nbcsnl Saturday Night Live last night. It is a totally one-sided, biased show - nothing funny at all. Equal time for us?"
The show's cold open with Baldwin included references to Trump's border wall, showed him Googling to learn about ISIS and referred to a Friday night performance of Hamilton at which Pence was reportedly booed.
After that report, Trump tweeted: "The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior." The Broadway musical won 11 awards at this year's Tonys, one short of the record.
The "equal time for us" reference in the SNL tweet would appear to be to the Federal Communications Commission's equal time (technically "equal opportunities") rule, which requires that local stations (and radio stations and cable outlets) that provide non-news airtime to qualified federal candidates have to give other candidates an equal opportunity for equivalent airtime.
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The issue came up during the campaign when the actual Trump's appearance on SNLdrew requests for equal opportunities from Trump primary competitors Lindsey Graham, George Pataki and John Kasich to at least three of the stations that carry the show--the obligation is on stations or cable systems, not the networks.
It is not the first time Donald Trump has fired of a Tweet after getting mocked by the show. On Oct. 16, then candidate Trump tweeted: "Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me. Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!"
If past is prologue, the President-elect will need to get used to being the butt of SNL jokes. Several iconic SNL alum have made their marks with presidential mockery including Chevy Chase's bumbling Gerald Ford, Dana Carvey's gentle George H. W. Bush, and Darrell Hammond's dead-on Bill Clinton, to name a few.
President Ford was mocked mercilessly for some gaffes and physical mishaps--as well as the pardon of Richard Nixon--but the response of the Ford white House was to get in on the joke, with press secretary Ron Nessen guest-hosting and President Ford filming the cold opening from the Oval Office.
