Donald Trump ‘SNL’ Protest a Bust, Draws Tiny Crowd

“More media than protesters,” said one journalist covering the event


The rally to protest Donald Trump hosting “Saturday Night Live” was mostly a bust Wednesday. The crowd outside Rockefeller Center in New York is estimated to have been between 40 and more than 100 people.


The National Hispanic Media Coalition and over a dozen other Latino organizations had planned to gather outside the “Saturday Night Live” studio.


People were encouraged to rally at the Comcast Building at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City on Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. The groups also planned to deliver petitions with 522,080 signatures calling on NBCUniversal to cancel Trump’s involvement.


But the turnout was perhaps smaller than many observers expected.


“Small turnout at #Trump protest at @nbc tonight,” said NPR’s Julio Ricardo Varela on Twitter. “More media than protesters, it seems. 500K+ signatures were delivered.”


The NHMC reported the crowd to be more than 100 strong. In a statement to reporters, NHMC president and CEO Alex Nogales said, “‘Saturday Night Live’ is not a news entity, it is a pop culture giant, and should not be in the business of giving acceptance and legitimacy to the views of a racist extremist by having him host a program. To do so is insensitive and will contribute to the wave of bigotry he is creating.”


The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, which includes 40 civil rights and public policy groups, previously sent a letter asking NBC Universal CEO Stephen Burke and “SNL” executive producer Lorne Michaels to reconsider their decision. The letter has gone unanswered, but they’re not giving up.


“We have a number of options that are on the table,” Felix Sanchez, chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, told TheWrap. “This is a slap in the face.”


On Tuesday, the group uploaded a video to YouTube urging fellow Hispanics to protest the show. “November 7, 2015 will go down in history as the day NBC and Lorne Michaels disrespected Latinos and became the biggest losers,” the video said.


Trump earned the ire of Latinos during his Presidential campaign announcement speech when he referred to undocumented immigrants as “rapists.

http://www.thewrap.com/donald-trump-...ws-tiny-crowd/