Aziz Ansari knew his historic appearance on "Saturday Night Live" would bring a lot of attention — including a likely viewer in the new U.S. president.
Donald Trump has made a Sunday Twitter ritual out of skewering the show's portrayal of him, which means he must catch at least some segments.
"Pretty cool to know though he's probably at home watching a brown guy make fun of him, right?" began the comedian, who is the first South Asian to host "SNL."
He went on to denounce the new "lowercase kkk movement," highlighting how racist groups have been normalizing hate and discrimination during Trump's rise to power.
"I think Trump should make a speech. A real speech denouncing the lower-case kkk," Ansari said.
President Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, used to lead Breitbart News, which he touted as the platform for a new white supremacist movement, the so-called "alt-right." The site refers to transgender people as "trannies," claims that Planned Parenthood has Nazi roots, and says that women shouldn't use the Internet if they don't want to be threatened and harassed.
Ansari used his time in the spotlight to appeal directly to Trump: "Don’t tweet about me being lame or the show. Write a speech. A real speech. Because these people are out there, and it’s pissing a lot of people off. And I think it could make a difference. Because other presidents have done things like this, and it has helped. Hate crimes and stuff that went down."
Ansari used George W. Bush's speech after 9/11 as an example of addresses that could diffuse tense reactions and hate crimes.
"Yesterday, Trump was inaugurated. Today, an entire gender protested against him. Wow," Ansari said, referring to the Women's March in Washington, D.C.
Estimates suggest that more people attended Saturday's event in the capitol than Trump's inauguration on Friday.
"So, look. We’re divided," said Ansari. "It’s OK ... As long as we treat each other with respect and remember that ultimately we’re all Americans, we’ll be fine."
The star of "Master of None" and "Parks and Rec" concluded:
"If you're excited about Trump, great. He's president, let's hope he does a great job," Ansari concluded with. "If you're scared about Trump and you're very worried, you're going to be OK, too. Because, if you look at our country's history, change doesn't come from presidents. Change comes from large groups of angry people. And if day one is any indication, you are part of the largest group of angry people I have ever seen. Good luck to you."
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