The Sopranos star Michael Imperioli said this month that if the acclaimed HBO crime drama were produced today, many of its central characters would “probably” support Donald Trump.
Speaking to The Independent, Imperioli reflected on how the show’s themes of immigration and the American dream might translate into the current political climate.
“The show is about the American dream, especially through the eyes of immigrants,” Imperioli said. “I think that would be one of the big themes if it was made today: the current climate in the US and what they’re doing to immigrants.”
He added that the contradiction between the characters’ immigrant roots and contemporary politics would create dramatic tension.
“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,” he said.
Imperioli is best known for portraying Christopher Moltisanti on the series, which aired for six seasons from 1999 to 2007. The show followed mob boss Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini, as he attempted to balance family life with his role as a New Jersey crime boss. Widely regarded as one of television’s greatest dramas, the series earned Imperioli four Emmy nominations; he won once for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
The intersection of “The Sopranos” and Trump-era politics has surfaced before. In 2019, series creator David Chase told The New York Times that Gandolfini’s character would not have been a fan of Trump.
“He would think the guy was full of [expletive],” Chase said at the time. “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.”
Chase also speculated about the political trajectory of Tony’s son, A.J. Soprano, portrayed by Robert Iler, suggesting the character might have found a place within Trump’s orbit. “He might be the new chief of staff,” Chase said. “He’d be buddy-buddy with Stephen Miller, I know that,” referring to the veteran Trump adviser.
Imperioli’s recent comments contrast with remarks he made in 2020, when he addressed viral memes depicting “Sopranos” characters as supporters of then-candidate Joe Biden. Speaking to Vanity Fair at the time, Imperioli said he was “taking ownership of the confusion between myself and the character and trying to control that narrative instead of letting it get away from me…. Taking these memes and the politics and just trying to say, ‘the Sopranos are woke now, and they’re campaigning for Biden.’”
As political debates continue to shape pop culture conversations, Imperioli’s remarks underscore how enduring television characters can be reinterpreted through the lens of contemporary issues decades after a series concludes.
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