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ACTOR ALEC BALDWIN has said that criticism made by US President Donald Trump could constitute a threat to his safety and the safety of his family.
Trump responded angrily Baldwin’s portrayal of him on Saturday Night Live, accusing the show of performing a “total hit job” and asking why it can do so without “retribution”.
Baldwin’s exaggerated imitation of the president – complete with blonde wig and pout – parodied Trump’s speech announcing a national emergency in order to build his border wall with Mexico.
In the skit, he said: “You all see why I gotta fake this emergency, right? I have to, because I want to. It’s really simple. We have a problem. Drugs are coming into this country through no wall.
Wall works, wall makes safe. You don’t have to be smart to understand that. In fact, it’s even easier to understand if you’re not smart.
Donald J. Trump / Twitter
Donald J. Trump / Twitter / Twitter
In a series of tweets following the broadcast, Trump said there was “nothing funny” about the programme.
He said such content is “very unfair and should be looked into”, adding that “this is the real collusion”.
In a subsequent tweet, he said – in all capital letters – that “the rigged and corrupt media is the enemy of the people”.
Last evening, Baldwin replied: “I wonder if a sitting President exhorting his followers that my role in a TV comedy qualifies me as an enemy of the people constitutes a threat to my safety and that of my family?”
New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker noted that no other president had “publicly threatened retribution against a television network because it satirised him”.
Also parodied on the show was Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer. He said that it was a “good impersonation” but had gotten “one thing wrong”, adding “I use a flip phone”.
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