A small but yeasty crowd waved “Dump Trump” signs and shouted “[Have Sex With] Trump!” in Hollywood this afternoon as GOP nominee Donald Trump taped tonight’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.
LAPD had advised media covering Trump’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s show to park on the north side of Hollywood Boulevard, owing to a planned 4 PM protest outside the historic El Capitan Theatre next to Kimmel’s studio.
At 4 PM, however, media covering the event including CNN, the LA Times and CBS reported few protesters and far more cops on the scene via bikes, helicopters and especially horses who were of particular interest to tourists. By about 4:30 PM, however, a group of about a dozen protesters could be seen outside the theater, spitting distance from a booth that had been set up to sell Jimmy Kimmel for Vice President T-shirts.
A couple of protesters could be heard chiding Kimmel for hosting the polarizing former reality TV star-turned-presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
On the way to the Kimmel taping, while driving across a cleared Sunset Boulevard, Trump’s social media director Dan Scavino Jr., marveled at the historical significance of Trump rally intros:
After today’s taping, Trump headed to the home of Colony Capitol CEO Tom Barrack and his wife Rachelle for $25,000- to $100,000-per-ticket fundraiser co-hosted by RNC Chair Reince Priebus and Trump finance chair Steven Mnuchin. While the official Tinseltown count looked to be low at the event, Mnuchin himself was briefly co-chairman of Relatively Media last year and has been deeply involved with the likes of Brett Ratner in film financing venture Ratpac-Dune Entertainment. With Ratpac-Dune and previously with his own Dune Entertainment, Trump’s moneyman served as an EP on Mad Max: Fury Road, American Sniper and The Lego Movie, among others.
In anticipation of possible protests, an area of several blocks around the West LA home has been shut down, causing traffic nightmares.
The fundraisers may not be Trump’s idea of time well spent. “The RNC really wanted to do it, and I want to show good spirit,” Trump told the AP today. “I was very happy to continue to go along the way I was.”
Earlier today, some violence erupted at Trump’s rally near Disneyland in Anaheim. Around 2 PM, as pro- and anti-Trump groups lobbed verbal abuse at each other, police began arresting some protesters.
More protesters were ushered out of the Convention Center hall as Trump spoke, referring to media inside the venue as “slime,” singling out Republicans Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and Bill Kristol for insults, as well as his presumed Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, while also touching on his wall, gun control and his talent as a “great messenger.”
“Get him out of here!” Trump told security officials from the dais, when one protester began to taunt him. “Don’t hurt him,” he added. “I say that for the TV cameras – but don’t hurt him.”
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