In his opening monologue as the host of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” Donald Trump was mockingly heckled for being a “racist.”
“You’re a racist!” a voice yelled from off stage, interrupting Mr. Trump’s monologue.
“Ay yi yi — I knew this was going to happen,” said Mr. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. “Who is that?”
“Trump’s a racist!” continued comedian Larry David. “I heard if I yelled that, they’d give me $5,000.”
Mr. David was referencing the $5,000 reward promised by the Latino activist group DeportRacism.com that had joined the protest over Mr. Trump appearing on the show.
“As a businessman, I can fully respect that,” the real estate mogul jokingly responded.
The laughs drew attention to protesters who took Mr. Trump’s hosting gig much more seriously.
During the show, as many as 300 demonstrators outside “SNL” studio at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City protested Mr. Trump’s appearance over his pledge to deport most of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States and build a wall on the border with Mexico.
The movement to ban the candidate from the show dubbed itself “Dump Trump.”
In the days leading up to the show Saturday, Colombian-born actor John Leguizamo vowed to never again watch “Saturday Night Live” because it gave a platform to what he called Mr. Trump’s “hate mongering.”
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat and leading proponent of expanding immigration and offering citizenship to illegal immigrants, joined the Hispanic Caucus in opposing Mr. Trump’s appearance on the show.
Mr. Trump previously hosted the show in 2004.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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