[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16274-16275]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              DONALD TRUMP HOSTING ``SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE''

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, did you hear that ``Saturday Night Live'' 
has invited Donald Trump to host the show in November? Now, let me get 
the exact quote from July when Donald Trump launched his ``make America 
hate again'' campaign. He said:
  ``When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best . . . 
They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing 
us those problems. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. 
They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.''
  ``They're sending us not the right people. It's coming from more than 
Mexico. It's coming from all over South and Latin America, and it's 
coming probably from the Middle East.''
  While much of what Donald Trump says is hilarious, intentionally or 
otherwise, bald-faced racism for political gain isn't funny. His 
statements should disqualify him from being able to take the stage in 
any entertainment venue and speak to the American people as if what he 
said was no big deal.
  It is not that I don't get the joke--I haven't been kidnapped by the 
politically correct police--but when public figures cross certain 
lines, they should lose their privileges to host TV shows, at least 
until they have apologized for their unacceptable behavior. To put 
Donald Trump on the air in America's living rooms on the signature 
comedy show of one of the most important national networks after saying 
that Mexicans are rapists, drug dealers, and criminals, that is a 
corporate blunder too big to be ignored.
  What happened, NBC and Comcast? Within a couple of weeks after Trump 
launched those racist bombs, you dumped Trump. You dumped his TV show 
on your network. You dumped his pageants and other ventures on NBC and 
Universal networks like Telemundo.
  In July, NBC said: ``Due to the recent derogatory statements by 
Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business 
relationship with Mr. Trump.''
  NBC said: ``Respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of 
our values.''
  NBC, you were not alone in dumping Trump. Macy's Department Stores 
dumped Trump's clothing line, Serta dumped Trump's mattresses, chef 
Jose Andres pulled his new restaurant from a Trump hotel, and Univision 
dumped a Trump pageant. Even NASCAR and ESPN dumped Trump. Corporate 
America stepped up to the plate and dumped Trump, and we all applauded.
  Let's be clear: the goodwill that corporate America earned from 
dumping Trump didn't just come from the Mexican-American community. No, 
when Trump says Mexicans are murderers, rapists, and drug dealers, 
Puerto Rico knows he is talking about us, too, and Colombians and 
Salvadorans, and pretty much everyone in the Latino community.
  Look, Americans aren't very good at telling us apart; so when we are 
under attack by a tycoon running for the Republican Presidential 
nomination, we can't tell us apart either. We are all family.
  What happened, Comcast, Universal, and NBC? Now, 3 months later, have 
Donald Trump's words been expunged? Did I miss an apology on one of his 
almost nightly television appearances? Has he confessed his racist and 
hateful call to action?
  Well, NBC installing Trump as SNL host may be good for ratings, but 
it is a bigger deal than a cameo or being a guest on ``The Tonight 
Show.'' I am calling you out.
  If Donald Trump had said gays and lesbians were murderers and raping 
Americans, would he get to host a show? It is every bit as much a 
fiction and a lie.
  Donald Trump has said some pretty awful things about women 
individually and collectively. But what if he said most women were 
criminals? Would the writers be thinking up sketches for Trump if he 
had slandered an entire gender rather than an entire ethnic group?
  Trump says he wants to do away with the part of the Constitution that 
allowed freed slaves, freed African American slaves to be treated fully 
as American citizens. Yes, Trump thinks we do not need the 14th 
Amendment to the Constitution.
  But what if he said that Black people were murderers, rapists, drug 
dealers? Would you still pitch skits with Donald Trump and some 
lighthearted banter?
  What if all the Latino cast members all walked off the job at 
``Saturday Night Live''? Oh, wait, you don't have any Latino cast 
members.
  I do seem to remember Comcast spending a lot of time on Capitol Hill 
when they had a merger deal with Time Warner and they wanted support 
from Members of Congress. Comcast said Latinos were so important to 
them, and they had plans to do this and that and the other thing to 
support the Latino and immigrant community.
  What happened? The merger didn't go through, so you no longer feel 
the sense of corporate responsibility to the 55 million Latinos that 
live in the USA? Giving free airtime to people who insult and malign 
them is now part of your business model?
  I just want to say one last thing to producer Lorne Michaels. I 
wonder if he had said that Canadians were rapists, murderers, and drug 
dealers, would you be inviting him on SNL?
  Mr. Speaker, I place in the Record a letter that I sent NBC Comcast 
yesterday.

                                     House of Representatives,

                                 Washington, DC, October 20, 2015.
     Mr. Brian Roberts,
     Chairman/President/CEO, Comcast Corp,
     Philadelphia, PA.
     Mr. Stephen B. Burke,
     President/CEO, NBCUniversal,
     New York, NY.
       Dear Messrs. Roberts and Burke: Having Donald Trump as a 
     guest on every news and entertainment program is one thing, 
     but allowing him to host Saturday Night Live is another. It 
     is a level of endorsement that says to America that every 
     hateful and racist thing Donald Trump has said since the 
     moment he launched his campaign is acceptable and no big 
     deal.
       Well, it is a big deal. He said Mexicans are rapists, 
     criminals and drug-dealers, and to be clear, when he said 
     Mexicans are those things, he was tarring all Latinos and all 
     immigrants. His exact words were, ``They're sending us not 
     the right people. It's coming from more than Mexico. It's 
     coming from all over South and Latin America, and it's coming 
     probably from the Middle East.''
       The reaction in July from NBC was swift and clear: ``Due to 
     the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding 
     immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship 
     with Mr. Trump.'' And NBC said, ``Respect and dignity for all 
     people are cornerstones of our values.''
       Serta, Macy's, NASCAR, Univision, and ESPN were among the 
     others that also acted to dump Trump.
       Three months later, because he is a ratings and comedy 
     bonanza, Lorne Michaels and Saturday Night Live (SNL) are 
     giving the Trump campaign 90 minutes of free network airtime.
       I think I speak for a lot of Americans, especially 
     immigrant Americans and Latino Americans, when I say that if 
     SNL is allowed to proceed, it would be a huge corporate 
     blunder.
       When Comcast sought a merger with Time Warner, I and a lot 
     of my Congressional Hispanic Caucus colleagues heard from you 
     about your commitment to the Latino community and the level 
     of corporate responsibility you pledged to your diverse 
     audience. I certainly hope that your commitment to ``respect 
     and dignity for all people'' was not some hollow promise and 
     is in fact a cornerstone of your values.
       Please disinvite him. Make a statement: Derogatory 
     statements of the nature trumpeted by Trump about any group 
     disqualifies someone from hosting shows on

[[Page 16275]]

     your network. Send a message that racism is not funny and 
     that responsibility to your viewers and the public is more 
     important than ratings. It is a chance for your company--
     again--to show you are committed to your audience in more 
     ways than just the ad revenues they provide you.
       Please do the right thing and dump Trump.
           Sincerely,
                                                Luis V. Gutierrez,
                                               Member of Congress.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their 
remarks to the Chair.

                          ____________________