On Monday morning, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC dedicated varying amounts of time to Sunday’s American Music Awards (AMAs) but only footnoted supermodel Gigi Hadid pretending to mock First Lady-to-be Melania Trump’s plagiarism of a Michelle Obama speech using Mrs. Trump’s Eastern European accent.
While CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today mentioned that there was pushback to Hadid’s tasteless mockery, ABC’s Good Morning America provided nothing of the sort but instead held it up as a “platform” for liberal Hollywood to express their fears about President-elect Donald Trump.
“The hosts also took on the president-elect, Donald Trump. This, of course, comes after that Twitter war with the cast of Hamilton and as we talked about, Alec Baldwin of Saturday Night Live,” co-host and Clinton Foundation donor George Stephanopoulos hyped in a lead-in to correspondent Chris Connelly’s report.
Connelly started his segment with Green Day chanting about Trump, the KKK, and fascism at the AMAs before pathetically turning to Hadid’s “Melania Trump impression” with no context or allusion to the criticism and tradition of presidential families being off-limits.
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
After a clip of Hadid shaping her face to look like Melania and joking to the near-uniform delight of the liberal audience: “I love my husband. President Barack Obama and our children, Sasha and Malia.”
“The AMA’s became the latest platform for members of the entertainment community to vocalize their concerns about a Donald Trump presidency,” Connelly added before providing another example of the media’s continued obsession with Trump lashing out against the cast of Hamilton for calling out Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Friday night.
Instead of alluding to any number of instances from the past eight years where country music stars joked about ObamaCare or President Obama, Connelly sympathetically held up the Dixie Chicks from 2003 repeatedly trashing then-President George W. Bush.
Over on CBS This Morning, co-host Norah O’Donnell spent 36 seconds on Hadid in a brief from People magazine’s reporting that the supermodel “is getting mixed reviews for her imitation of the First Lady.”
O’Donnell commented following the clip that: “The model mocked Mrs. Trump for plagiarizing a speech from Michelle Obama. Hadid was a co-host of the American music awards last night in Los Angeles.”
Going lastly to NBC’s Today, roughly a minute was spent on the Hadid backlash but was included as one of the opening teases.
“And model behavior? At last night's American Music Awards, supermodel Gigi Hadid takes a swipe at First Lady-to-be Melania Trump and those charges of plagiarism...And while the audience loved it, social media has not been quite as kind,” ruled co-host Matt Lauer.
9:00 a.m. co-host and MSNBC host Tamron Hall provided the short segment from the “Orange Room” and admitted that “the chatting” about the AMAs “started early online when one of the hosts, supermodel Gigi Hadid...kicked off the show with a controversial impression of Melania Trump.”
She concluded by reading a tweet from each side with one applauding Hadid while another slammed her that had Hall flashing her own feelings by ruling that this person had “an interesting response”:
So you heard some laughter in the audience, but online, guys, guess what happened? A mixed bag reaction. Phillip tweeted: “Well @GigiHadid had did just rocked the Melania impression.” But it was also met with great backlash. Here’s a tweet that said: “[Gigi] what you did on the AMA awards insulting Melania Trump shows you have no class! Tasteless!” This was an interesting response.
The relevant portion of the transcript from ABC’s Good Morning America on November 21 can be found below.
ABC’s Good Morning America
November 21, 2016
7:31 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: New This Morning; Hollywood Takes on Trump; President-elect Fires Back at Entertainers]
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: The hosts also took on the president-elect, Donald Trump. This, of course, comes after that Twitter war with the cast of Hamilton and as we talked about, Alec Baldwin of Saturday Night Live. Chris Connelly has all the back and forth.
GREEN DAY: No Trump. No KKK. No Fasicsts. No USA.
CHRIS CONNELLY: From Green Day to co-host Bella Hadid's Melania Trump impression.
GIGI HADID: I love my husband. President Barack Obama and our children, Sasha and Malia.
CONNELLY: The AMA’s became the latest platform for members of the entertainment community to vocalize their concerns about a Donald Trump presidency.
The relevant portion of the transcript from NBC’s Today on November 21 can be found below.
NBC’s Today
November 21, 2016
7:01 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: New This Morning; Model Behavior?]
MATT LAUER: And model behavior? At last night's American Music Awards, supermodel Gigi Hadid takes a swipe at First Lady-to-be Melania Trump and those charges of plagiarism.
GIGI HADID: I got to get my face right. I love my husband, president Barack Obama.
LAUER: And while the audience loved it, social media has not been quite as kind.
(....)
7:49 a.m. Eastern
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Tamron is over in the Orange Room. She’s in for Carson. The round-up of the AMAs last night.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: #OrangeRoom; Music and Memorable Moments; Hits-and-Misses From the AMAs]
TAMRON HALL: Yes. Happy Monday, gang. So, music’s — I can’t get the words out — biggest names gathered in L.A. Sunday night for a — that star-studded awards show, Savannah mentioning. The chatting, though, started early online when one of the hosts, supermodel Gigi Hadid, was recently on the show. She kicked off the show with a controversial impression of Melania Trump. Here's her take on the next First Lady.
GIGI HADID: I love my husband, president Barack Obama and our children, Sasha and Malia.
HALL: So you heard some laughter in the audience, but online, guys, guess what happened? A mixed bag reaction. Phillip tweeted: “Well @GigiHadid had did just rocked the Melania impression.” But it was also met with great backlash. Here’s a tweet that said: “[Gigi] what you did on the AMA awards insulting Melania Trump shows you have no class! Tasteless!” This was an interesting response.
