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Daily Kos: Congressional Hispanic Caucus to Saturday Night Live: Dump Trump!

November 2, 2015

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has voted to officially oppose Donald Trump's scheduled appearance to hostSaturday Night Live this coming weekend, and the group is urging NBC and SNL to "disinvite" The Donald, reports Brian Steinberg.

The Caucus' "Statement of Opposition" was approved by two-thirds of its 26 members, who serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The group cited a range of factors, including NBCU parent Comcast's assurances during hearings on its now-defunct efforts to merge with Time Warner Cable that it was committed to diversity and the idea that Trump's remarks have made Latinos and Hispanics fearful, as reasons for its stance. [...]

"When a TV personality calls Mexicans and Latinos criminals and rapists, a corporate network should not give him 90-minutes of free air time in an entertainment venue without his first apologizing to the American people," said Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez, the Illinos Democrat. "Did I miss an apology? Did Trump do what Paula Deen or any other TV personality has to do after they make racist comments in public in order to get back on the air?"

Latino advocacy groups have been up in arms for weeks over SNL's invitation to Trump and have accused the show of "mainstreaming racism" by letting him host the show. NBC had originally cut ties with Trump shortly after his candidacy announcement in June, when he broadly accused Mexican immigrants of bringing drugs and crime and rape to America.

As I noted here, many in the media—journalists included—have largely been accomplices to letting Trump's racist and xenophobic claims go unchecked.