President Trump may not have any desire to work with the entertainment industry anymore, but that has not stopped him from incidentally inspiring new Hollywood projects.
The former host of “The Apprentice” was ubiquitous in pop culture for decades before being elected president, even making cameos in such disparate franchises as “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”
Even before he became president, Hollywood had no qualms about basing its art on Trump, the most famous example being “Back to the Future” villain Biff Tannen. Then there are the more overt references, like rapper Mac Miller’s song “Donald Trump,” or the “meet me at the Trump, Ivanka” lyric from Beyonce and Nicki Minaj’s “Flawless” remix.
Thanks for the shout out @Beyonce @NICKIMINAJ I'll meet you at the Trump. #FlawlessRemix #mademyday
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 5, 2014
Even though Trump has been too busy running the country to participate in anything directly, the entertainment industry has continued to churn out projects based on his policies, scandals or general demeanor. Here is a look at some past, present and future Trump-inspired pop culture:
Funny or Die Presents Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie
As Trump inched closer to the Republican presidential nomination, Funny or Die unexpectedly dropped a full-length movie version of the president’s memoir and business tome, “The Art of the Deal,” starring Johnny Depp as Trump.
It was one of the first indications that overwhelmingly liberal Hollywood saw Trump as a legitimate threat to the Democratic Party’s stranglehold on the White House.
HamilTrump
In early 2016, a brief trend emerged where sketch comedy groups would use the title song from Broadway’s “Hamilton” to craft musical origin stories, like this one for Batman. Rad Motel Sketch Comedy gave Trump the “Hamilton” treatment in the video above.
South Park
At first, Matt Stone and Trey Parker hesitated to skewer Trump directly, instead opting to create an elaborate metaphor involving Canada to show the chaos a Trump presidency could cause.
Eventually, they had no choice but to tackle Trump head on, transforming the show’s resident Trump surrogate into the spitting image of The Donald.
The Purge: Election Year
As “Purge” star Frank Grillo told Comicbook.com: “In the beginning when we shot the movie it wasn’t called ‘Purge: Election Year.’ Oddly enough, the guy who plays the president in the movie, he plays him like Trump — totally by accident.
“There’s a lot of parallels between the GOP race and the movie and the messages that are being put forward, and then Universal got this great idea to call it ‘Purge: Election Year.’”
Saturday Night Live
Alec Baldwin has been making frequent appearances on NBC’s sketch comedy mainstay, with Melissa McCarthy occasionally popping up as press secretary Sean Spicer and Kate McKinnon taking on both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and adviser Kellyanne Conway.
Law and Order
NBC has yet to air this Trump-inspired episode of “Law of Order,” which features a politician (played by Gary Cole) whose political career is threatened by damning accusations from multiple women.
YG’s “FDT”
Rapper YG emphatically proclaimed his disdain for the president with this bluntly named track, which currently has over 16 million YouTube views.
“Building the Wall”
Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan penned a play about what some believe could be the outcome of Trump’s anti-immigration policies. It was recently announced that the play would receive a commercial off-Broadway run starting in March.
According to Playbill, the show is set in the near future where “the Trump administration has carried out his campaign promise to round up and detain millions of immigrants.”
Tiny Hands
Many artists crafted protest songs in the wake of Trump’s victory, including this one from Fiona Apple, where she sings, “”We don’t want your tiny hands anywhere near our underpants.”
The President Show
Comedy Central recently greenlit this upcoming half-hour series starring comedian Anthony Atamanuik as Trump. Premiering April 27, it will feature Pete Grosz as Vice President Mike Pence.
According to Deadline, Atamanuik’s Trump “Will be bypassing the crooked media by hosting a late-night show direct from the Oval Office.”