SNL: Shane Gillis Says He Declined Offer to Play Trump in Season 50
Saturday Night Live came this close to introducing a new (yet familiar) Donald Trump impersonator during its Sept. 28 premiere.
During a recent appearance at the Skankfest comedy festival in Las Vegas, Shane Gillis — the stand-up comedian who, just moments after being hired as a featured player in 2019, was fired from the show for his history of making racist and homophobic comments — said that he declined an offer from series boss Lorne Michaels to play the former president during the late-night sketch series’ milestone 50th season.
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“Nobody thought he was coming to this festival this year,” podcast host Luis J. Gomez says in the video below. Once Gillis gives him the go-ahead, Gomez explains to his audience that Gillis “was offered to play Trump on the entire season of SNL and he turned it down to f—king be here, folks.” Gillis then confirms the story, adding: “I wouldn’t miss Coke Magic. They asked, they said, ‘Are you serious? You’re going to say no?’ And I said, ‘Lorne, I gotta go to Coke Magic.'”
TVLine has reached out SNL reps for comment.
Speculation that SNL would reveal James Austin Johnson’s successor arose after series boss Lorne Michaels gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter and suggested that the show would have to “reinvent” Trump ahead of the presidential election.
“I think we have the people to play [the candidates] and it should be fun. And Trump has morphed,” Michaels said in THR’s Sept. 19 cover story. “James, who I think is brilliant, played Trump as the sort of diminished Trump. The guy at the back of the hardware store holding court, and that played because it felt relevant. But we are going to have to reinvent it again because, well, you saw the [Sept. 10] debate.”
Ultimately, though, Johnson reprised Trump in SNL‘s season opener, opposite Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris. That same episode unveiled that repertory player Bowen Yang had been cast as Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance; Jim Gaffigan had been tapped to play fellow VP hopeful, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; and former cast members Andy Samberg and Dana Carvey had been cast as Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff and President Joe Biden.
Five years after he was fired by SNL, Gillis made his Studio 8H debut as host during Season 49. In that episode, Gillis played the ex-Apprentice star in a faux movie trailer called “Trump Sneakers.”
Are you disappointed that Gillis didn’t agree to play Trump? Or are you happy to see Johnson continue in the role? Sound off in Comments.
SNL Season 50 Hosts & Musical Guests
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