Shane Gillis Says He Turned Down Playing Donald Trump On ‘SNL’ Season 50

Saturday Night Live apparently nearly had a new Donald Trump impersonator for its 50th season.

Shane Gillis claimed over the weekend that he was asked to play the former President for the entirety of season 50 but turned it down.

At Skankfest, a comedy festival in Las Vegas, it emerged that Gillis, who did spoof Trump when he hosted SNL last season, was asked by Lorne Michaels to do it again.

“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.’”

The idea of a new Trump impersonator gained steam after Lorne Michaels gave an interview, where he said that the show would have to “reinvent it again” following the Presidential debate.

In the end, James Austin Johnson, who has recently portrayed Trump on the show, returned to play the Republican nominee alongside Maya Rudolph as Vice President Kamala Harris, Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz, Dana Carvey as President Joe Biden and Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff.

Before Johnson, Alec Baldwin previously portrayed Trump on the NBC show. The Rust actor started his impression in 2016 when Trump was running for President and continued through to Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election. He also won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the role in 2017.