A late-night comedy show’s take on his boss is a little too mean-spirited, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told an entertainment-news website on Sunday.
“Alec [Baldwin] has gone from funny to mean, and that’s unfortunate,” Mr. Spicer said, reported ExtraTV.com. “[“Saturday Night Live”] used to be really funny. There’s a streak of meanness now that they’ve crossed over to mean.”
While President Trump has often taken to Twitter to jeer “Saturday Night Live,” he has made no such pronouncements following the Feb. 5 edition of the show, which featured a few segments mocking either the president or his administration.
In the program’s cold open, Trump adviser Stephen Bannon was depicted by an actor in a grim reaper costume spurring on Mr. Trump (Baldwin) to engage in testy phone calls with world leaders.
The opening monologue by Kristen Stewart focused heavily on Mr. Trump’s numerous tweets in the past that targeted the actress’ relationship with “Twilight” co-star Robert Pattinson.
A subsequent taped segment made light of Mr. Trump’s travel ban and Mr. Spicer himself came in as a target of comedian Melissa McCarthy’s manic, physical comedy.
For his part, Mr. Spicer admitted he found Ms. McCarthy’s take funny overall, albeit a little exaggerated.
Ms. McCarthy might want to “dial back” the slapstick portrayal a bit, Extra reported Mr. Spicer as saying.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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