Many of the characters in the popular HBO series “The Sopranos” would most likely be supporters of Donald Trump if the show aired today, actor Michael Imperioli said.
While envisioning what the series would be like in America’s current climate, Imperoli told The Independent that although the show’s fictional characters were “immigrants,” he believes a number of them would probably support Trump.
“The show is about the American dream, especially through the eyes of immigrants,” Imperioli told the outlet. “I think that would be one of the big themes if it was made today: the current climate in the U.S. and what they’re doing to immigrants. The fact is that these characters are all immigrants, but I think a lot of them would probably be Trump supporters, oddly enough. So how do they reconcile those things? When Italians came over – and people forget this, or they don’t want to see it – a lot of them were undocumented.”
Imperoli played Christopher Moltisanti on the show from 1999 to 2007.
In 2019, “The Sopranos” creator David Chase told The New York Times that he thought James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano wouldn’t be impressed by Trump.
“He would think the guy was full of [expletive],” Chase said. “Whether he thought he was a good president or not — I don’t know that Tony thought much about that question at all, with anybody who was in office. But I know Tony would have thought Trump was penny-ante, in terms of his lying and presentation.”
“The Sopranos” actors Tony Sirico, Steven Van Zandt, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli and Vincent Pastore.
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In the same conversation with The Times, Chase predicted that Robert Iler’s A.J. Soprano would seamlessly integrate into the Trump administration’s regime.
“He might be the new chief of staff,” Chase said. “He’d be buddy-buddy with [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller, I know that.”
In 2020, Imperioli criticized Trump while showing support for former President Joe Biden, whom Trump ran against in the 2020 presidential race. In an Instagram post, Imperioli joked that Trump had misbehaved at the show’s fictional strip club Bada Bing.
“Trump stopped by the Bing one night,” Imperioli wrote, per Vanity Fair. “We gave him VIP treatment, everything on the house and he didn’t tip anyone! Zero! Stiffed the whole staff…even Peppino the bathroom attendant. Unforgivable. VOTE BIDEN.”