If Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were hoping to land a repeat cameo appearance on the new season of Gossip Girl, they are set to be sorely disappointed after its creator insisted the couple will ‘definitely not’ be asked to appear, despite the pair landing guest spots in an episode of the original show.
Eleven years ago, Ivanka and Jared were regulars in the moneyed New York City social scene, so it was only natural that they’d pop up at a party attended by the characters hit TV show Gossip Girl.
But fast forward to 2021 and the July 8 premiere of Gossip Girl’s HBO Max reboot, and showrunner Joshua Safran says Donald Trump’s daughter and her husband no longer have a place on the series.
Speaking to the Daily Beast, Safran — who also served as a writer and executive producer on the original show — said Ivanka, 39, and Jared, 40, would ‘definitely not! definitely not’ be in the reboot, insisting that ‘the world has shifted’ and they would no longer be at the same parties and events as Gossip Girl’s main characters.
Remember this? Ivanka Trump, 39, and Jared Kushner, 40, cameoed in a 2010 episode of the original show, where they attended a party and were friends with Lily van der Woodsen
Makes sense: Executive producer Joshua Safran previously said that because they were ‘socialites in New York,’ they fit in the Gossip Girl world at the time
Hobnobbing: The scene featured a party thrown by Jared’s New York Observer
Ivanka and Jared made their cameos in the season four episode Easy J, which premiered on October 25, 2010.
Jared’s newspaper, the New York Observer, hosted a party attended by Lily van der Woodsen, Rufus Humphrey, and Serena van der Woodsen, with Lily greeting Ivanka with cheek kisses and compliments.
But Safran said that these days, there wouldn’t be such an encounter on the show — and not just because of politics or even the fact that Jared and Ivanka have left New York City for Miami.
‘At the time, they were just sorta-celebrities,’ he explained. ‘Trump was a bad real estate mogul, but I don’t think any of us saw what was coming. I think celebrity has shifted.’
One of the main characters of the reboot, Julien, is an influencer — and Safran says he and his friends wouldn’t be hanging at the same spots at the Trumps or the Kushners.
‘In 2007, the [Gossip Girl] kids weren’t famous like kids are famous now. Gossip Girl was talking about them, but if they went to a party, Jared and Ivanka were there — it wasn’t that Jared and Ivanka were there to see them,’ he went on.
Not anymore! But Safran, now showrunner for the Gossip Girl reboot that premieres on HBO Max on July 8, said they wouldn’t be at home in the new show
Cool kids: Safran said the nature of ‘celebrity has shifted’ and i n the reboot, one of the main characters is an influencer who is less likely to be at a party with Ivanka and Jared
‘This group of kids are more magnets than the first group of kids were inside their worlds,’ he said
No way! Safran agreed with interviewer that the kids in the reboot ‘wouldn’t be caught dead’ at the kind of old-money places in the original series where Ivanka and Jared were regulars
‘The world has shifted a little bit to where if Julien goes to a party, there are celebrities that are going to want to be at that party because Julien is there. This group of kids are more magnets than the first group of kids were inside their worlds.’
Opinion: The showrunner (seen at the series premiere on June 30) said his new show ‘represents where New York is now’
Safran agreed with interviewer’s assertion that the kids in the reboot ‘wouldn’t be caught dead’ at the kind of old-money places in the original series where Ivanka and Jared were regulars.
‘This represents where New York is now,’ he continued. ‘Also, the original Gossip Girl was based on a book series and had closer ties to the Edith Wharton and Henry James side of New York — and we were always talking about that.
‘We were always talking about Metropolitan and The Age of Innocence, and that’s why that first show was so successful.
‘This show still has some of that DNA, but we talk more about Succession and Karena Evans’ work,’ he said. ‘It’s referencing more what culture is now.
‘In 2007, which isn’t that long ago, we were interested in watching shows about rich people having problems too because there weren’t many shows that looked under the hood of being rich. Now, because of Instagram, we can look under anyone rich’s hood at any time of any day.’
Safran has talked about Ivanka and Jared’s appearance before.
!['In 2007, the [Gossip Girl] kids weren’t famous like kids are famous now,' Safran said](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/02/15/44959287-9749603-_In_2007_the_Gossip_Girl_kids_weren_t_famous_like_kids_are_famou-m-17_1625235508665.jpg)
‘In 2007, the [Gossip Girl] kids weren’t famous like kids are famous now,’ Safran said
Flashback: Jared pictured at a New York Observer event in 2007
‘With Jared and Ivanka, it would’ve been, “They’re on a list and they’re in town, reach out and see if they’re available,”‘ he told Vulture in 2017. ‘People wanted to be on the show, it was a crazy thing.
‘They are socialites in New York and they do fit the world of Gossip Girl,’ he added. ‘I’m sure Lily van der Woodsen knows Trump and would have been on the board of charities with him or Melania. That’s the world of Gossip Girl, so to deny it would be wrong.’
And Ivanka was certainly a fan of the series.
‘I never miss an episode of Gossip Girl,’ she told InStyle at the time. ‘I think I’m a cross between Blair Waldorf and Lily van der Woodsen when it comes to the style. I like the uptown city style and a clean-cut, streamlined silhouette.’
She also said she had a great time appearing in the episode with her husband.
‘We had so much fun filming together but I am not sure if you could characterize our cameo as acting per se. And the fact the episode aired on our one year wedding anniversary on Oct 25 was just the icing on the cake!’ she added.
Safran’s comments come amid ongoing reports that Ivanka and Jared are no longer welcome in the same elite New York social circles that they once frequented.
Prior to Trump’s presidency, Ivanka and Jared regularly socialized with high-profile New Yorkers – and even attended the Met Gala on a number of occasions, where they schmoozed with some of the world’s most famous celebrities.
They’ve moved! Of course, Jared and Ivanka also no longer live in New York City, having moved to Miami after leaving Washington, D.C.
Disappointed? Ivanka, pictured in November 2020, previously said she never missed an episode of Gossip Girl and ‘had so much fun filming’ her cameo
Given that the event is organized by Vogue editor-in-chief and outspoken Trump critic Anna Wintour however, it seems unlikely that their pair will earn an invite to the prestigious event in the future.
After Trump left the White House in January of this year, the couple relocated to Miami, Florida, where they are currently residing in a luxury beachfront apartment with their three children.
In the months since their move, they have made a handful of brief trips back to the Big Apple, but are reportedly set on making the Sunshine State their permanent home, and are currently in the process of building a home on a $32 million plot of land on Indian Creek Island – known as the ‘Billionaire Bunker’.
Meanwhile, in his interview with the Daily Beast, Safran also addressed criticism that his reboot is a ‘woke’ Gossip Girl.
‘I think it’s hilarious because everyone saying that hasn’t seen the show,’ he said.
‘The term “woke”… any term that becomes a stand-in to mean so many different things is ridiculous, but I don’t feel that at all about this perspective inside the show where the kids know their privilege.
‘If anyone’s ever hung out with any rich kids right now, they’re aware of their privilege. They have to be. The Kardashians talk about it all the time. Just because you’re aware of your privilege doesn’t mean you don’t abuse it,’ he went on, adding that ‘of course they’re still going to do something terrible!’