Donald Trump Returning To NBC With ‘Tonight Show’ Gig On September 11
Donald Trump may have broken up with NBC, but that won’t keep him from going on its top-rated late-night show to help kick off the program’s new season. Trump, currently the GOP presidential race front-runner, will sit down with Jimmy Fallon on September 11 to discuss his campaign and other issues of the day on that politically charged date.
In June, NBCUniversal announced it had severed its relationship with Trump over his controversial comments about immigrants coming over the Mexico border, dumping the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageant broadcasts and taking steps to end its co-ownership with Trump on the franchises. Trump, in turn, said he’d see NBC in court.
“At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values. Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump,” the company said then. “To that end, the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC and Trump, will no longer air on NBC . In addition, as Mr. Trump has already indicated, he will not be participating in Celebrity Apprentice on NBC.”
Back then, informed sources said NBC’s decision to cut ties with Trump was corporate-wide. And, in a statement, Trump punched back, saying, “If NBC is so weak and so foolish to not understand the serious illegal immigration problem in the United States, coupled with the horrendous and unfair trade deals we are making with Mexico, then their contract violating closure of Miss Universe/Miss USA will be determined in court.”
The break-up of that once close relationship began when Trump announced his candidacy on June 16, ending nearly two decades of flirtation. Trump vowed to build a wall at the Mexico border. The U.S., Trump said, has become a dumping ground for Mexico and other country’s “problems.” “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people who have lots of problems and they’re bringing their problems: drugs,…rapists… and some, I assume are good people,” he said.
Tonight Show also announced more about the first week of the new season:
Frequent Fallon collaborator Justin Timberlake returns to the show on Wednesday, Sept 9, his first visit to Fallon’s “Tonight Show” since premiere week. On the same evening Ellen DeGeneres and musical guest Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are scheduled to appear and the show will simultaneously be displayed at 11:35 p.m. ET on a huge digital billboard in the heart of Times Square (Broadway between 45th & 46th streets) in midtown Manhattan.
Grammy Award winners and multiplatinum recording artists Keith Urban, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Carrie Underwood and Pharrell Williams will perform during the all-star week. A new Williams performance will have its premiere on Friday’s broadcast.
Here is the full lineup of guests for the week of Sept. 8-11:
Tuesday, September 8: Richard Gere, Jessica Simpson, Keith Urban
Wednesday, September 9: Justin Timberlake, Ellen DeGeneres, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Thursday, September 10: Andy Samberg, Carrie Underwood (talk and musical performance)
Friday, September 11: Donald Trump, Terrence Howard, Pharrell Williams
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