David Letterman regrets not hosting SNL, and expects Trump to "lose big" as he expresses remorse apologizing for calling him racist

Vulture

Shortly before the 2016 election, Letterman said there was “not a chance in hell” in Trump would win. So what about this year? "I believe he will lose it big, and it will be a relief to every living being in this country, whether they realize it now or not," he tells Vulture in a wide-ranging interview. "It certainly will be a relief to me and my family, and I think generally the population. I’m more confident now than I was then, and I was pretty confident then. I was wrong. I don’t think I’ll be wrong this time." Letterman also says apologizing for calling Trump racist following the Obama birther controversy is among a "long list of things that I regret and would not have done knowing what I know now. But, specifically with regard to Trump, I feel like I should have stuck by my accusation and not have caved to get him back on the show. I had to do a nightly show, and I didn’t know then what I know now. I should’ve known more about what he was up to, but I just didn’t. I have always sort of felt that smart people were not racists. I didn’t know that it seemed to be genetic in his case." As for Saturday Night Live, Letterman admits being "scared silly" about hosting the show after Lorne Michaels approached him several times. "I had done a variety show with Mary Tyler Moore for one summer in California, so I kind of knew what the drill was," he said. "And I was so certain, absolutely positive, that I would screw up his show and have to continue working with him in the same building that I said, 'Oh, geez, I’m very sorry.' And I never did it. Now, I think they do such a nice job of supporting the guests there that I probably wouldn’t have put them out of business. It’s a small regret that that was not part of my life, because you see other people who have long, long relationships with Lorne and that show, and I think that’s a mark of a great career. I don’t have that, but it was my own foolishness."