by Zachary J Borodkin
Early Sunday Morning, Trump tweeted: “Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me.Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!”
Trump is known for his boisterous tweeting habits, so why the outrage over this tweet in particular?
Since its inception more than 40 years ago, Saturday Night Live has served as a space for comic relief and restoration of sanity. Presidential elections have always been satirized by SNL. No Presidential election has been without controversy. This election, however, is different. The fears that have laid dormant for over half a century have been reawakened and show little signs of subsiding.
While not exactly being the cure-all, SNL has alleviated some of these symptoms and made this highly polarized election more digestible for the American people. SNL has mocked, questioned, poked fun of, and laughed at both Trump and Hill-dog’s motives, behaviors, and personalities, while remaining, for the most part, impartial. With a single tweet, Trump is implying that SNL has rigged the election should Hillary win. His tweet is a call for media censorship, which could have damaging implications for the future of free speech.
Satire is a form of passive dissent and has helped bridge some of the deepest divisions for decades, if not centuries. These claims of rigged elections will continue into future elections, and comedians must provide a humanitarian outlet despite the backlash faced by those who want the media to be controlled in their own favor.