"You are enabling the president’s bad behavior while undercutting the Presidential Debate Commission and doing a disservice to the American public," the group, which includes several current NBC stars, wrote in a memo to top NBCUniversal and Comcast brass.

More than 100 top showrunners, producers and stars have sent a petition to Comcast and NBCUniversal executives protesting the timing of tonight's town hall with President Donald Trump, which is set to air across the company's platforms opposite ABC's town hall with Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The list of heavyweights who signed the letter of protest includes J.J. Abrams; Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay, This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman and Ava DuVernay.

The petition — sent to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, NBCUniversal chairman Jeff Shell and NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde — told the execs, "you are enabling the president's bad behavior while undercutting the Presidential Debate Commission and doing a disservice to the American public." They continued: "This is not a partisan issue. This is about the political health of our democracy." The group includes such current top NBC talent as Chris Meloni and This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown as well as heavyweights Aaron Sorkin, Greg Berlanti, Ryan Murphy and Seth MacFarlane.

The hourlong Trump event is scheduled to air tonight on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC at 8 p.m. Eastern, a direct conflict with the first hour of Biden's 90-minute town hall on Disney-owned ABC. Biden's ABC town hall will originate from Philadelphia, while Trump will be in Miami, where the two candidates were originally scheduled to appear together in person for a town hall that was to be carried on C-SPAN.