'This is ridiculous': Trump satire artist jumps to escape hush money jury duty

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 11: Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during his civil fraud trial at New York Supreme Court on January 11, 2024 in New York City.

New Yorkers herded into the courtroom where former President Trump seeks a jury of his peers appear to have one question on their mind: Is he orange?

That was the quality upon which two dismissed jurors remarked in interviews outside Manhattan criminal court Thursday, the third day of jury selection in Trump's hush money trial.

While one of the pair found Trump to be more yellow, Mark, an artist who frequently satirizes former President Donald Trump in his work, said the color palette was plain to see.

"He's sort of plopped in a chair," Mark said. "You can see the orange."

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Mark was among those drawn into the courtroom who felt compelled to admit bias because of the subject of his work, he told MSNBC in an on-air interview.

"I was certain that even if intellectually I would be capable of being unbiased, because I satirized Mr. Trump often in my artwork, that this would come to light," Mark said.

Mark then did an imitation of Hollywood actress Vivian Leigh as Blanche Dubois in "Streetcar Named Desire" to poke a little fun at Trump's attorney, Todd Blanche.

"There would be no way," Mark said, "that Blanche, [who is] not going to rely 'on the kindness of strangers,' would allow me to be on the jury."

Mark did not elaborate on how he satirizes Trump artistically, but his work would hardly be the first to appear in New York City.

Ahead of the 2016 presidential election — when Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels — Manhattanites flocked to Union Square to view a statue of a full frontal Trump called "The Emperor Has No Balls."

When Judge Juan Merchan explained to Mark and his fellow New Yorkers what qualifications the attorneys sought in a potential juror, Mark realized it simply wasn't him, he said.

"I thought this is ridiculous, there is no way after my online presence where I satirized this man again and again that I would be fit," he said. "It would be a waste of their time and frankly, as a taxpayer, our money, for me to clog up the process that way."

Watch the interview below or click here.

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