Just hours after SNL aired its sketch with actor Alec Baldwin playing President-elect Donald Trump in a confused moment where he was portrayed searching for "What is ISIS?", the incoming President of the United States went to Twitter and vented his critique of the show. President-elect Trump called "Saturday Night Live" "unfunny" and totally "one-sided". He also suggested "Equal time for us?".
Acording to TV Line, within thirty minutes, actor Alec Baldwin, the "30 Rock" alum who played Trump responded to Trump's tweet saying that "the election is over", suggesting that "equal time" no longer find application. He then suggested to Trump to "try to be President, and that "people respond'
The actor then went on to further counsel Trump on how best to spend his time, saying that since election is over, he should now be focused on "how to improve the lives of AS MANY AMERICANS AS POSSIBLE" and "improving our reputation abroad, including actually fighting for freedom and not just oil."
Baldwin also added "I would make [Cabinet] appointments that encouraged people, not generate fear and doubt". "You want more advice, call me," Baldwin said in conclusion. "I'll be at SNL."
Trump's SNL-lambasting tweets came after the President-elect's online response to Vice President-elect Mike Pence's theater-going experience on Friday evening. The Vice President-elect got a not so warm reception during a Broadway show, where the cast of "Hamilton" expressed on-stage its fervent hope that Pence "will work on behalf of all of us," after seeing a "wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds and orientations".
Ironically, when Trump blasted SNL for "equal time", the same issue has been raised at the time when he hosted the show during the Republican presidential primary. According to Fortune, many critics have said that Trump was getting an unfair advantage and speculated that the "equal opportunities" rule would be triggered. The rule would require SNL to provide equal time to the other candidates. It did not happen though, but SNL made it sure that Trump's Democratic rival Hilary Clinton got substantially the same amount of airtime.
