Donald Trump rejected a role in a Saturday Night Live sketch because the costume made him look fat, according to a report.
In November 2015, the then-Republican presidential hopeful hosted SNL. A sketch had cast him as a tree that would stand next to Shel Silverstein’s Giving Tree. At the end of the skit, Trump’s character was supposed to call the Giving Tree “a sucker,” the New Yorker reported.
But Trump refused to play the role, “not because it portrayed him as heartless but because he worried that the tree costume made him look fat,” the outlet wrote.
The episode aired on November 8, 2015, a year before Trump won his first presidential election.
Months later, in September 2016, Trump’s doctor released a letter detailing his health, including that he was 6-foot-3 and weighed 236 pounds.
Trump discussed the letter on The Dr. Oz Show, hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, now Trump’s pick for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator.
“You’re 6’3″, 236 lbs. as I mentioned. Now, in my mind, I’m thinking your body surface area and your BMI is high. It’s probably close to 30, which is sort of the barrier for most people. Do your doctors or your family ever give you a hard time about your weight?” Oz asked the then-GOP nominee.
“Yeah, I think I could lose a little weight,” Trump replied. “I’ve always been a little bit this way. I think that if I had one thing, I’d like to lose weight. It’s tough because of the way I live. But the one thing I would like to do is be able to drop 15 to 20 pounds. It would be good.”
More recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary, criticized Trump’s food preferences, such as KFC and McDonald’s: “The stuff that he eats is really, like, bad.”
After Trump appeared on SNL, some at the time criticized the show for letting Trump host, asserting his appearance aided his election victory. In 2017, former cast member Taran Killam reflected on Trump’s episode.
The decision for Trump to host likely wasn’t “politically based,” Killam told NPR at the time, but he also didn’t think the “implications” of his appearance were considered.
“I think looking back ... there’s nothing good I can take from that week. Because he’s not an enjoyable person to be around — he’s from a different class; he’s from a different way of life,” the actor said.
“It was rough,” Killam told the outlet. “It was not enjoyable at the time and something that only grows more embarrassing and shameful as time goes on.”
SNL also took flack when Vice President Kamala Harris made a cameo on the show just days before the 2024 presidential election.
The Independent has asked a representative from Trump’s team for comment.
