If you follow Donald Trump on Twitter, then chances are that you saw his tweet about potentially cancelling Saturday Night Live. This tweet came out the morning after the skit on the second presidential debate, in which Alec Baldwin portrayed Donald Trump. He stated that it is time to “retire the boring and unfunny show,” and ended his tweet with “Media rigging election!” This sparked controversy, as some believed that Trump was overreacting, but others believed that he was right and that SNL was promoting Hillary Clinton, thereby rigging the election.

Reading his tweet had me thinking–if he were to become president, would he cancel SNL? Furthermore, doesn’t the first amendment state that all Americans have freedom of speech?

So…doesn’t that mean that cancelling Saturday Night Live would be a violation of the first amendment?

SNL is arguably centered around freedom of speech. Since it makes fun of anyone of any importance in our society, the show is based on the assumption that the writers have the right to say whatever they want. If freedom of speech was revoked, then Saturday Night Live wouldn’t exist. Think about it. Would a show like SNL exist in Nazi Germany? How about Italy when fascism was at its highest point?

Saturday Night Live thrives on poking fun at people, and Donald Trump certainly isn’t the first presidential candidate that they’ve mocked. Perhaps he’s just bitter because of the negative response he received when NBC announced that he would host another episode in November of 2015. Protesters camped outside Trump Tower, and a petition with over 500,000 signatures was also formed. However, Donald Trump hosted the episode anyway, despite heckling and people calling him a racist during the show.

Having freedom of speech is exactly what makes SNL unique. Since the writers have the power to say whatever they want, they are able to indirectly promote or discredit anyone they make fun of. Saturday Night Live is based on making fun of people, which is something that Donald Trump doesn’t seem to realize. Whether or not we should cancel SNL is something that everyone has an opinion on, but cancelling Saturday Night Live would be a violation of the first amendment.