Lorne Michaels Tried to Change 'SNL's' Donald Trump This Season But Was Rejected

Ahead of season 50, we knew that Lorne Michaels would bring back Maya Rudolph to play Kamala Harris. We expected that he’d have celebrities appear to take on some of the other political roles (Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff, Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz). He also hinted that there would be a change in direction where it concerned their Donald Trump. After several seasons in which James Austin Johnson depicted Trump as a rambling, incoherent politician who frequently digressed into nonsense, Michaels was ready for a new approach.

Thankfully, that different approach was not ready for Lorne Michaels.

According to Shane Gillis in an interview with Luiz Gomez at Las Vegas’ Skankfest comedy festival (sounds right), he was offered the gig for the entire season but turned it down.

“Nobody thought [Gillis] was coming to this festival this year,” podcaster Luis J. Gomez said.

“Explain why,” Gillis replied. “Because he was offered to play Trump on the entire season of SNL and he turned it down to f*cking be here, folks,” Gomez added. Gillis said, “They said, ‘Are you serious? You’re going to say no?’ I said, ‘Lorne, I’ve got to go to Coke Magic.’

Gillis, of course, was fired from SNL in 2019 before he ever appeared on the show for a history of racist and homophobic comments, a history that he’s added to in the five years since. Michaels has expressed regret for firing him several times over the years and brought him back last season to host the show (his monologue was a disaster). Gillis did trot out a Trump impression during that episode in a skit called “Trump Shoes,” which was funny, but not because of Gillis’ fairly tepid impression.

Based on that, at least, Gillis would have been a weak and needlessly divisive Trump. Moreover, even putting his past comments aside, I’ve tried to see what Michaels sees in him. I don’t get it. Hopefully, after November, the show won’t have much use for a Trump impression from anyone.