![Donald Trump Make America Great Again Rally](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1229093230-copy-1602795050.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1)
Add Donald Trump to the list of people who are upset about NBC‘s decision to host a town hall with the president opposite a similar event featuring rival Joe Biden on ABC.
Trump bashed the network during a campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina, saying in part, “So you know I’m being set up tonight. I’m doing this town hall with Concast, C-O-N, right, con, because it’s a con job.”
“It’s NBC, the worst,” Trump went on to declare. “Home of Sleepy-Eyed Chuck Todd and some others.”
NBC has not responded to The Hollywood Reporter‘s request for comment about Trump’s latest remarks about the network.
NBC has received an avalanche of criticism, including from nearly 100 Hollywood figures who signed a petition to NBCUniversal and its parent Comcast, over its decision to air a town hall with Trump directly opposite ABC’s previously scheduled town hall with Biden. Both events, set to take place in the key battleground state of Florida, kick off at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Still, earlier today, NBC said it wouldn’t move the Trump event.
“I figured, what the hell, we get a free hour on television,” Trump said of the NBC event before adding of the network’s chosen host, Savannah Guthrie, “She’s always lovely, isn’t she?”
Trump called Lester Holt, who hosted last week’s NBC town hall with Biden, a “beauty” before referring to the former vice president’s event as “a joke.”
The president added that he actually would like to watch the Biden town hall, though his and the vice president’s are scheduled for the same time slot, “because I want to see if he can make it through the program.” He claimed moderator George Stephanopoulos would go “soft” on Biden though his previous questions for Trump were “unfair.”
The president has regularly referred to Comcast as “Concast” and NBC News’ cable network MSNBC as “MSDNC,” suggesting it’s an arm of the Democratic party, on his Twitter feed. “Sleepy-eyed Chuck Todd” is another frequent nickname that the president uses.
“I’ll see you later on NBC. I look forward to it,” the president said during his rally, wrapping up his remarks on the matter.
Later on Thursday, Donald Trump returned to the theme, tweeting, “I will be doing a major Fake @NBCNewsTown Hall Forum, live tonight from Miami, at 8:00 P.M. They asked me to do it in place of the Rigged Steve Scully (he is now suspended from @cspan for lying) Debate. I wonder if they’ll treat me as well as Sleepy Joe? They should!” Trump was referring to C-SPAN placing political Steve Scully on administrative leave after he lied about his Twitter account being hacked.
Oct. 15, 2:09 p.m. Updated with Thursday Trump tweet.
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