Hollywood vs. The White House: Celebrities Caught in Trump’s Crosshairs

Kenneth Lee

President Trump has made several headlines for using his Twitter to complain about Democrats and Republicans alike. However, the ire of the now 45th president of the United States has not been limited to public servants, but also towards celebrities: Oscar-winning actors and actresses, Broadway performers and even late-night sketch comedians. While we wait to see which celebrities he’ll tweet out against next when in office, we can reminisce on the Hollywood stars he’s feuded with during his tenure as president-elect.

Meryl Streep

The most recent movie star to be caught in Trump’s crosshairs was Meryl Streep. On June 9, from 3:27 a.m. to 3:43 a.m., President-Elect Trump took to Twitter to lodge a complaint against the actress, labeling her “over-rated” and a “Hillary flunky who lost big.”

The three tweets are a response to the acceptance speech Streep gave at the Golden Globes, which was held the night before. Although Streep did not mention Trump by name, she did reference the controversial video of him mimicking New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who is diagnosed with arthrogryposis. In the video, Trump imitated Kovaleski by wildly moving his arms and bending his wrist, leading many to criticize the then-presidential-candidate for mocking Kovaleski’s disability.   

Arnold Schwarzenegger

On June 6, from 4:34 a.m. to 4:42 a.m., the president-elect, posted two tweets concerning Arnold Schwarzenegger’s debut as the host for NBC’s The Apprentice/The New Celebrity Apprentice, which aired on June 2. Trump previously hosted the reality game show for 14 seasons before running for president. The tweets are referring to the poor ratings of Schwarzenegger’s season debut compared to the previous season.  However, the show had already experienced a steep decline for years. The last sentence in the restrained two-tweet tantrum also references Schwarzenegger’s endorsement of Republican primary candidate John Kasich, and later for his public statement on why he wouldn’t vote for Trump despite being a Republican.

Hamilton Cast

On November 19, from 5:48 a.m. to 5:56 a.m., a little over a week after winning the general election, Trump posted two tweets concerning an incident where Vice President-elect Mike Pence was booed by the audience while attending a showing of the Broadway musical Hamilton.

Then, on November 20, at 3:22 a.m., Trump posted another tweet calling for the cast to apologize for their “terrible behavior.” However, the Hamilton cast did not participate in the booing; they only read a speech to Pence, imploring him to consider all Americans when he and Trump enter The White House. Pence responded on the Hamilton-Trump feud by praising the show and cast’s performance, affirming that he “wasn’t offended.”

Saturday Night Live Cast and Alec Baldwin

What was once a blossoming friendship between a weekly sketch-comedy show and a presidential candidate, quickly crumbled when SNL started lampooning the three presidential debates with Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump and Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton. Although Baldwin is not a main cast member for Saturday Night Live, his impression caught the President’s attention after its second appearance. Baldwin’s Trump has made several more appearances satirizing the president’s behavior after the election. Trump’s recurring, post-SNL tweets has even been a running joke acknowledged by the show itself.