Alec Baldwin may have won an Emmy for his portrayal of President Donald Trump on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” but don’t count former cast member Rob Schneider among the fans.
Speaking with the New York Daily News, Schneider ripped Baldwin’s impression of Trump, labeling it “hard to watch” because Baldwin doesn’t hide his political leanings.
“Alec Baldwin is a brilliant actor… he’s not a comedian,” he added.
“I don’t find his impression to be comical,” he said. “Because, like I said, I know the way his politics lean and it spoils any surprise. There’s no possible surprise. He so clearly hates the man he’s playing.”
Schneider argued that by overtly bashing Trump and any Republicans, the show he called home from 1990-1994 is being too obvious about its political leanings.
“The fun of ‘Saturday Night Live’ was always you never knew which way they leaned politically,” he continued. “You kind of assumed they would lean more left and liberal, but now the cat’s out of the bag they are completely against Trump, which I think makes it less interesting because you know the direction the piece is going.”
He contrasted Baldwin’s Trump with how Dana Carvey handled playing former President George H.W. Bush. “To me, the genius of Dana Carvey was Dana always had empathy for the people he played, and Alec Baldwin has nothing but a fuming, seething anger toward the person he plays.”
Schneider, who says he’s an independent after years of being a Democrat, wouldn’t say whether or not he supports Trump. But he does think the bashing of the current president doesn’t help anybody. “Nothing good can come from making Trump nervous,” he continued. “It’s like asking Bill Cosby to top off your drink.”