Liberal darling Alec Baldwin has become a hero of the #Resistance by means of his Saturday Night Live Trump impersonations. Although some sketches aren’t exactly comedic ballbusters, they certainly manage to get under the real Donald Trump’s skin, leading to plenty of amusing tantrum tweets.
But Baldwin appears to be very protective of his status as the preeminent Trump impersonator, even going so far as to demean a (much better IMO) Trump impersonator on national television.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live, he blasted Trump impersonator Anthony Atamanuik without naming him. Baldwin referred to Atamanuik as “a guy who’s on the Internet” and mouthed “fuck him,” while Kimmel giggled sycophantically in the background.
“It’s interesting that now that [Trump’s] not going to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, there are people who are lobbying to play Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” Baldwin said on Kimmel. “There’s a couple guys on the internet who are like, ‘No, please. I’m the only man who should play Trump.’ There’s a lot of Trump competition, I got sucked into this.”
Atamanuik responded to Baldwin on Twitter.
@TonyAtamanuik @midnight
You're welcome— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) March 2, 2017
So why is Alec Baldwin being such a dick to a relatively small time comedian? Perhaps Baldwin is just a dick in general (as we’ve heard), or maybe it goes deeper…
Since Baldwin’s first appearance as Trump on SNL, his impersonation was accused of copying Atamanuik’s. Atamanuik had impersonated Trump since the beginning of the election, even appearing on Comedy Central’s @Midnight to debate a Bernie Sanders impersonator.
One of Baldwin’s jokes in the first Trump sketch was ripped straight from Atamanuik’s act, pronouncing China as Gyna.
Atamanuik had even auditioned for SNL with both a Trump impersonation and an Alec Baldwin one.
“I’ve been doing that joke for a year,” he told Decider. “I auditioned for SNL, and did my Donald Trump. Ironically, I did an Alec Baldwin impression as part of my audition, so I think I might be the only person in the history of SNL where I auditioned to do an impression, [also] did an impression of another celebrity, and then that celebrity got cast to do the impression I do.”
While Atamanuik, has been gracious about the similarities between Baldwin and his impressions, a fellow comedian has not.
James Adomian, who impersonated Sanders in debates with Atamanuik, called Baldwin out for ripping the Trump impersonation from Atamanuik’s SNL audition tapes.
“Whoa just when you thought Alec Baldwin sucks at Trump he reminds you he’s scared low class trash,” Adomian wrote on Twitter. “Sorry fatface @AlecBaldwin, Tony wins! Anthony Atamanuik auditioned for SNL last year and then they used his audition tape for Alec to rip. Or as it’s known at SNL, a number 4!”
Adomian continued to taunt Baldwin with ribs like, “Your impression of Donald Trump was so bad that it helped get Donald Trump elected president.”
Finally Baldwin responded, saying he would sue Adomian, but it’s not worth the time.
…@JAdomian
Oh, James. I'd sue you for this, but the only thing you have is bitterness and obscurity.— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) March 2, 2017
Baldwin also threatened to sue some other random Twitter user for suggesting he stole the impression.
“I’m gonna sue you, too, if you suggest that myself or anyone at SNL stole anything from anyone,” Baldwin tweeted at @benhenryc.
Baldwin’s online reaction is very Trumpian in a way. The vague threats of lawsuits, the duking it out with random anonymous accounts on Twitter and the not letting small matters go, despite being rich and famous.
Perhaps Baldwin has impersonated Trump a few too many times…
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