While she is no fan of Donald Trump, Hispanic actress Eva Longoria thinks efforts within her community to block the Republican presidential hopeful from hosting NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” are strongly misguided.
The former “Desperate Housewives” star said Trump’s upcoming gig as host of the late night program is “part of freedom of speech [and] freedom of press,” however controversial it may be.
“We as a Hispanic community have a choice to not watch it. That’s our choice,” Longoria said in a recent interview with the Hollywood news site The Wrap.
“That’s what we can do. That’s what you’re supposed to do,” she added. “Boycott that night, and then let that show feel that, ‘Oh, OK we did make a bad decision.’ You cannot limit that choice to producers or a network.”
Longoria continued, this time defending the show’s executive producer, Lorne Michaels.
“He has his right – not only that, Lorne Michaels has a right to book whoever he wants,” she said.
The award-winning actress’ remarks come as Hispanic activists and leaders across the country continue to urge “SNL” to abandon the GOP front-runner who described some illegal immigrants as “rapists” and “murderers” during his presidential announcement and whose position on illegal immigration is perhaps the toughest in the Republican field.
A MoveOn.org petition accusing NBC of “excusing and even validating Trump’s hateful comments about immigrants and latinos” currently has more than 142,000 signatures. Activists behind the petition hope it put enough pressure on the network to force them to “dump Trump.”
NBC has yet to respond to any concerns regarding Trump’s upcoming appearance. The outspoken billionaire, who dropped to second place in the Washington Examiner’s post-debate presidential power rankings, is currently slated to host the Nov. 7 episode of the decades-long comedy show.
