Saturday Night Live has gone too far
The show Saturday Night Live on NBC is watched by many for comic relief. The program promoted the humor in the 2016 Presidential Election from the start. The political satire has continued on to present day, turning the reality of Americans into humor. Saturday Night Live has gone too far with their comedy, making America forget that their jokes are actually reality.
The comedy act and continuous gimmick of Donald Trump has made people too comfortable with the legitimate doings of Trump. Saturday Night Live has made many skits about Trump’s relationship with Russia and many other real-world situations. As a result of the show, a large portion of the American population has unconsciously forgotten the serious impacts that Trump is making on their lives.
When the comedy act of the election and Trump first began, it was a harmless comedy act. Now that it has gone on for so long, it has turned into a cover up for the horrifying truth of the country.
In the skit “Donald Trump & Jeff Sessions cold open,” the lack of help given to Puerto Rico after a major natural disaster was turned into a joke. All of the viewers should have been informed and educated about the situation in a serious way in order to fully understand the severity of the situation. There is no comedy in the fact that a United States Territory was not provided with the assistance they needed and did not receive after a horrific devastation. Saturday Night Live acted as a mask to the awful circumstance that Puerto Rico experienced.
In the same skit, a joke was made inferring that Donald Trump was not aware that Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. Jokes should not be made about the dumbness of the president of someone’s country, especially because it is not known how much he is actually aware of. Society should be worried if their President’s intellectual ability has become a joke.
The skit “Donald Trump Trucker Rally Cold Open” is another circumstance where Saturday Night Live has the population see political and government issues in a comedic light. In the scene, Trump mentions how he is changing the tax on the American people. Alec Baldwin, acting as Trump, says how he is going to get the people back a lot of cash because that is all he is focused on. Also, in the skit Trump discusses how he is going to undo all of the changes that Obama made in the time of his presidency.
The focus of the president should not only be the amount of money everyone has. The president should focus on the actual well being of each member of the country, the amount of money one has does not matter if they are not happy, safe and healthy. When in the skit Trump says that he is going to end the current health care of the country, the truth is once again turned into comic relief. This situation should not be discussed and brought up as a joke because it is sadly a reality.
If Donald Trump successfully brings Obama Care to an end, health care and services will be taken away from many Americans. The unfortunate possible case was made a joke in the skit “Trump’s People”. The chance of someone losing their healthcare and rehab rights was turned into a joke by the cast of the late night comedy show. In no way is an individual not having proper care funny or amusing, so it should not be promoted as it is.
It is time for Saturday Night Live to stop turning society’s alarming realities into a comic relief. The political satire had its time and humility at first, but it has gone too far by making society comfortable with the consequences of Donald Trump.
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