Topline
More than 100 major Hollywood creators and stars have signed a letter to NBC opposing the network’s decision to host a town hall event with President Donald Trump Thursday night in lieu of the planned presidential debate, as current and former NBC employees continue to speak out against the event taking place at the same time as Joe Biden holds a long-planned town hall on ABC.
President Donald Trump at a rally at Orlando Sanford International Airport in Sanford, Florida, ... [+]
Key Facts
The letter, which was sent to head executives at Comcast and NBCUniversal, said the Hollywood figures were “devastated” by the network’s decision to air Trump’s town hall directly against Biden’s, saying NBC is “enabling the President’s bad behavior while undercutting the Presidential Debate Commission and doing a disservice to the American public.”
Among those who signed the letter are major NBC-affiliated players like West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin and star Allison Janney, Law and Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay, Will & Grace star Debra Messing, and cast members from other NBC shows including This Is Us and Parks and Recreation.
The letter followed a series of criticisms from current and former NBC employees Wednesday: Martin Gero and Brendan Gall, the creators of NBC comedy series Connecting, said on Twitter they “strenuously object” to the town hall scheduling and called for the event to be rescheduled, and Connecting star Shakina Nayfack tweeted that she is “disgusted by my home network giving Trump a platform for fear mongering, bigotry and disinformation.”
Former Today anchor Katie Couric tweeted Wednesday that “having dueling town halls is bad for democracy” by forcing voters to choose, calling the move a “bad decision” and predicting the town hall “will be good for Trump because people like to watch his unpredictability.”
Former NBC News producer Mark Lukasiewicz said the opposing town halls were “a bad result for American voters,” and former NBC News executive vice president Cheryl Gould wrote on Facebook she was “dismayed” and “disgusted” by NBC being “complicit in Trump’s tantrum.”
Merrill Brown, the former executive editor of MSNBC.com, told Variety that while the network had the “right instinct” in holding a town hall, it “could have held it at a point that was not opposite ABC’s.”
Crucial Quote
“This is not a partisan issue. This is about the political health of our democracy,” the Hollywood players wrote. “We believe this kind of indifference to the norms and rules of our democracy are what have brought our country to this perilous state.”
Chief Critic
In a statement released after the Hollywood letter was made public, NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde said the network “share[s]
in the frustration” that the event will air against Biden’s town hall, and said the decision was “motivated only by fairness, not business considerations,” citing the network’s previous 8 p.m. town hall with Biden on Oct. 5. “If we were to move our town hall with President Trump to a later time slot we would be violating our commitment to offer both campaigns access to the same audience and the same forum,” Conde said. “We hope voters will watch both discussions.”What To Watch For
The head-to-head matchup between Trump and Biden’s dueling town hall events is expected to move forward as currently scheduled, and could turn into a chance for Trump to tout his ratings against Biden’s ABC appearance. Sources familiar with Trump’s thinking cited by the Daily Beast said Wednesday that Trump reportedly wants to use his town hall against Biden to get higher ratings and “humiliate” the Democratic candidate. NBC is “giving Trump exactly what he wants,” a senior staffer at the network told CNN. As a result, calls have been growing on social media to boycott the NBC town hall and watch Biden’s town hall instead.
Key Background
Trump’s NBC town hall will take place in Miami Thursday night at 8:00 p.m., and Trump will answer questions from Florida voters alongside NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. The town hall scheduling was the latest twist in the saga over Thursday night’s programming in the wake of Trump’s positive Covid-19 diagnosis, as the Commission on Presidential Debates initially made the decision to move the presidential debate scheduled for that evening to a virtual format. Trump ultimately refused to participate in the debate if it was virtual and the event was cancelled, and Biden scheduled his ABC town hall in the immediate aftermath of Trump backing out of the event. NBC has said that its town hall will take place outdoors with social distancing measures in place, and the network received a statement from the National Institutes of Health saying clinical director Dr. Clifford Lane and Dr. Anthony Fauci had “concluded ‘with a high degree of confidence’ that the president is ‘not shedding infectious virus.’”
Further Reading
J.J. Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Mariska Hargitay Among 100 Top Hollywood Players Protesting NBC's Trump Town Hall (The Hollywood Reporter)
Trump To Take Part In NBC Town Hall Thursday, Fauci Says He’s Not Infectious (Forbes)
Trump Refuses To Attend Second Presidential Debate After Change To Virtual Format (Forbes)
NBC schedules Trump town hall at the same time as Biden's on ABC, sparking outrage (CNN)
