In New York, protesters have rallied outside Manhattan’s Rockefeller Plaza to call on NBC to cancel presidential candidate Donald Trump’s upcoming performance on “Saturday Night Live.” A petition to “Dump Trump” has garnered nearly half a million signatures. NBC had previously said it would cut ties with Trump after he called Mexican immigrants criminals and “rapists.” But the candidate is now scheduled to guest host “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. Protester Juan Escalante spoke out at Wednesday’s protest.

Juan Escalante: ”NBC needs to stand by its previous stance, break all ties with Donald Trump, and they should not have—they should not provide him with a platform to continue to attack our communities, whether it’s Latinos, immigrants or other people. I think what Donald Trump continues to say about immigrants and Latinos is distasteful, it’s insulting. And bottom line, 'Saturday Night Live' should not be trying to make fun of what Donald Trump has said, because when Donald Trump says that he plans to deport 11 million people, he means that. When Donald Trump said that Mexican immigrants are rapists, murderers, drug dealers, he meant that. And there’s no way for them to take those clips and try to repackage them and pass them off as comedy.”