The Bakersfield Californian
By Esther Cepeda
October 21, 2015
In
an ideal world, it wouldn't matter that "Saturday Night Live" has
decided to give its weekly platform to a tin-eared jerk who fans the
flames of hatred toward immigrants,
minorities and women.
"SNL,"
once a vanguard of pop cultural relevance, veered off the tracks years
ago and has been struggling with ratings ever since. Lately, "SNL" has
garnered nearly as
many headlines for its missteps in the diversity department as it has
for its comedy sketches.
Last
year, after "SNL" hired its first female black ensemble member since
2007 and only the fifth in the show's 40-year history, U.S. News and
World Report's Danielle
Kurtzleben noted that the show's paltry ratings "suggest that 'SNL'
simply doesn't have the culturally central place that it once did. It's
not simply that people aren't watching as much TV; among those who do,
far fewer are watching 'SNL.'"
Kurtzleben
went on to ask, "If 'SNL' has indeed shrunk as a cultural force, the
phenomenon then raises a question akin to the age-old problem of the
tree falling in the
forest: If 'SNL' pushes for more diversity and no one is there to
watch, does it matter?"
Unfortunately, it does.
People
don't need to tune into 'SNL' to see the best bits from the show -- the
video clips start making the rounds on Sunday mornings and are shared
widely. At the beginning
of this week, it seemed like you couldn't go onto any major newspaper's
website without running into at least one clip of former cast member
Tracy Morgan's first appearance since his horrific car crash in 2014.
Ordinarily
the best reaction to 'SNL's' decision to invite Donald Trump onto the
show on Nov. 7 would be to ignore the spectacle rather than feed into
the publicity machine
that both 'SNL' and the Republican presidential candidate are banking
on to make the episode a success.
But
it's not enough to simply declare that if Trump is on, Hispanics should
boycott 'SNL' and NBC. The headlines and attention the episode will
garner will make the absence
of whatever paltry Latino viewership the show might currently enjoy a
nonissue.
So
far, action alerts containing contact information of top 'SNL' and NBC
executives, and impassioned statements from Hispanic advocacy
organizations, have begun circulating
via email. A MoveOn.org petition sponsored by the immigration reform
group America's Voice is asking NBC to dump Trump.
At
the heart of their complaints is that, in June, NBC stated it was
ending its business relationship with the candidate after Trump referred
to Mexican immigrants as
"rapists" and "murderers."
"At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values," NBCUniversal's press release stated.
So why, aside from a windfall of PR, did this stance seem to disappear just three months after it was announced?
I can't say because, when contacted, NBCUniversal's press relations department told me they are "not commenting" on the matter.
Whether
Trump reprises his hateful rhetoric on the comedy show or harmlessly
buffoons his egomaniacal persona in an effort to burnish his
"straight-talking" brand matters
little. What's at issue is that unless 'SNL' disinvites him, it is
effectively giving a stamp of approval to his hateful views.
Odd,
considering that 'SNL' creator Lorne Michael's global media company,
Broadway Video, in conjunction with NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises,
recently announced the
launch of a digital comedy channel aimed at English-speaking Latino
audiences. "We constantly look for new ways to connect with Hispanic
audiences," said Peter Blacker, NBCUniversal's executive vice president
of digital media.
The
National Council of La Raza's Janet Murguia called 'SNL's' Trump
invitation a "slap in the face" to the Latino community, but that's not
quite right.
A slap in the face could be seen as a passionate outburst -- an intimate gesture implying an affront within a relationship.
'SNL's'
paltriness in the Hispanic ensemble member department -- two Latino
males in 40 years -- and a complete dismissal of Hispanics' complaints
over an offensive 2014
skit featuring a white comedienne portraying a ditzy, overly accented
Latina sexpot tell you all you need to know about 'SNL's' relationship
with Hispanic audiences.
If
'SNL' and NBC choose to continue their plan to have Trump host SNL we
should see the gesture for what it is: A big "[expletive] you" to the
overwhelming majority of
a 55 million-strong community who have clearly articulated their
disgust with The Donald.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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