After playing Donald Trump during a mock debate with Jim Carrey’s Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live while the president was hospitalized for COVID-19, Alec Baldwin defended doing the impression in an Instagram post on Sunday.
“[SNL’ and NBC] know that they don’t want to sink the ship, so if there was ever the suggestion that Trump was truly, gravely ill … really in trouble, then I would bet you everything I have that we wouldn’t even get near that in terms of the content of the show,” Baldwin said. “They would have done something else. I’ve seen that happen before.”
Trump was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital on Friday after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday but returned to the White House on Monday night.
In a video shot immediately after his return, Trump suggested it was possible he was immune to the virus that caused him to be hospitalized over the weekend.
“We’re going back to work. We’re going to be out front,” the president said. “As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there’s danger to it, but I had to do it. I stood out front. I led. Nobody that’s a leader would not do what I did. And I know there’s a risk, there’s a danger, but that’s OK. And now I’m better and maybe I’m immune, I don’t know. But don’t let it dominate your lives.”
As for Baldwin, expect the 61-year-old actor to continue to reprise his role as the president in the lead-up to the election during SNL’s 46th season.
“I also think that no matter who plays Trump, how well they play it, no matter what the context, it doesn’t matter,” Baldwin said. “People are just sick of Trump, they don’t care who portrays him.”
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