Alisyn Camerota, John Berman and Brian Stelter all tried to contain their amusement while covering one of the president’s most absurd tweets yet.
CNN anchors have laughed off President Donald Trump crying "collusion" on "Saturday Night Live" Sunday morning after NBC sketch show roasted him with a parody of "It’s a Wonderful Life," imagining how much better off his own administration and family would be if he lost the 2016 election to Hillary Clinton.
"What part’s the collusion there?" asked a very sarcastic Alisyn Camerota on Monday morning when reacting to the president’s tweet alongside "New Day" co-host John Berman. "Oh, I see, that ‘Saturday Night Live’ is colluding with people?"
Trump only gave the "SNL" sketch more publicity when he tweeted, "A REAL scandal is the one sided coverage, hour by hour, of networks like NBC & Democrat spin machines like ‘Saturday Night Live.’ It is all nothing less than unfair news coverage and Dem commercials. Should be tested in courts, can’t be legal? Only defame & belittle! Collusion?"
Camerota pointed out that the show is not a news program and offered a different take: "SNL" being able to make fun of the President of the Unites States of America — as it has been doing since the show started airing in 1975 — is one of the many things that makes this country great.
"I am at my most patriotic when I watch ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and I’ve always felt this way," she said. "I remember having the epiphany, ‘Wait a second, we live in a country where comedians can mercilessly make fun of our president?’ And I’ve felt this way for decades. How great is this country that we live in? And I’m sorry, you can not take that away."
"You can take issue, President Trump, with the Fourth Amendment — as you did this weekend — or the criminal justice system, but do not mess with our comedy," she continued.
Berman joked that Trump can join in on lawsuits every other POTUS has filed after being satirized on "SNL." The joke being that those lawsuits don’t exist.
"I don’t remember hearing about those," Camerota said to emphasize the absurdity of Trump trying to turn comedians making fun of a president into a legal issue.
On Sunday, CNN’s media analyst and anchor Brian Stelter hosted a panel that also shut down Trump’s tweet. Journalist Joan Walsh told viewers the president’s complaint has no legal foundation, thanks to the Constitution’s First Amendment.
"Yes, we have the right to say these things," she said. "And ‘Saturday Night Live’ is a satire show. And it’s mocked every president and every major political figure."
Stelter added another amusing fact. "And I believe now President Trump used to be on ‘SNL,’" he said with a grin on his face.
Trump has hosted the show twice, most recently in 2015, after he became a leading candidate in the last presidential race. Former cast member Taran Killam bashed the "embarrassing" episode in a 2017 interview.
"It was rough. It was not enjoyable at the time and something that only grows more embarrassing and shameful as time goes on," Killam explained. "I don’t necessarily put so much weight into [the idea of] Trump hosting ‘SNL’ helping him become president, but there’s definitely something where it normalizes him and it makes it OK for him to be part of the conversation. And I don’t think the intention of having him on was ever politically based. I sincerely believe that. But I don’t think it was considered — the implications that it had then and could have moving forward."
"I think looking back … there’s nothing good I can take from that week," he continued. "Because he’s not an enjoyable person to be around -— he’s from a different class; he’s from a different way of life. There was never any common ground."
The actor said the cast could "hear protests during our table read" as Trump’s detractors shouted "No Trump!" outside. "I am embarrassed, upon reflection, just because of how everyone was right," he says now, "Every person outside of that building protesting was absolutely right."
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