Latino protesters held a rally on Wednesday night outside of NBC studios to hand deliver a petition boasting more than half a million signatures asking the network to cancel 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump's upcoming hosting gig on "Saturday Night Live," CBS New York reported. Protesters cite Trump's inflammatory comments about Mexican immigrants as the reason for their demonstration.
Juan Escalante, a staff member of immigration reform group America's Voice, started the petition and delivered the signatures in a box, NBC News reported. A sign on the front of the box read "522,080 petition signatures demanding that NBC revoke Donald Trump's invitation to host 'Saturday Night Live' on Saturday, November 7th, 2015."
"There is nothing funny about what #DonaldTrump has said about Latinos and #immigrants. Nothing. Shame on @nbc and @nbcsnl #RacismIsntFunny," Escalante tweeted hours before the rally.
Among the protesters were leaders of various organizations, who rallied together and held signs that read "Stop the Hate" and "Dump Trump," according to CBS New York. The petition gained support from various organizations including America's Voice, Change.org, CREDO Action, MoveOn.org, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the League of United Latin American Citizens.
"We believe this individual has been very divisive toward the Latino community," said Brent Wilkes, the national executive director for the LULAC, told NBC News. "He's called us rapists, murderers. He's called us criminals. He's called us drug dealers. And that's extremely offensive to us. And there's no space for someone like that on a comedy show like 'Saturday Night Live'."
See a copy of the letter Escalante delivered to NBC studios in his tweet below.
Here’s a copy of the letter inside the box, addressed to @comcast & @nbc, asking them to #DumpTrump from @nbcsnl pic.twitter.com/vL63Dj48DD
— Juan Escalante (@JuanSaaa) November 5, 2015
