As Sarah covered over the weekend, in the final stretch of the 2024 campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on “Saturday Night Live” for a short skit with Maya Rudolph, who plays the Democratic presidential nominee on the show. The VP’s appearance was blasted by the Trump campaign, with spokesman Steven Cheung saying “she’s living out her warped fantasy cosplaying with her elitist friends on Saturday Night Leftists as her campaign spirals down the drain into obscurity.” But Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr also blasted Harris’ appearance, but for an entirely different reason. According to Carr, NBC allowing Harris on the program was “a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.”
Carr, a Trump appointee, continued, “Federal law requires that broadcasters provide comparable time and placement to all legally qualified candidates when the Equal Time rule is triggered. With only days before the election, NBC appears to have structured this appearance in a way that evades these requirements. What comparable time and placement can they offer all other qualifying candidates?”
In the 2016 cycle, President Obama’s FCC Chair made clear that the agency would enforce the Equal Time rule when candidate Trump went on SNL.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 3, 2024
NBC stations publicly filed Equal Opportunity notices to ensure that all other qualifying candidates could obtain Equal Time if they… pic.twitter.com/CZkaeGyRhL
Just weeks ago, SNL’s Lorne Michaels said that they *would not* be bringing any of the candidates on due to election and equal time laws:
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 3, 2024
“‘You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,’ Michaels said.” pic.twitter.com/xtfnNFXdfr
Addressing that criticism, NBC gave former President Donald Trump 60 seconds of free commercial time during a NASCAR race, and an additional 60 seconds during Sunday Night Football coverage.
🚨BREAKING: NBC forced to allow Trump to air a free 90 second advertisement during Sunday Night Football and NASCAR per FCC regulations in order to provide equal time to Kamala Harris’ SNL appearance.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 4, 2024
pic.twitter.com/OhKlWoVno7
As the Hollywood Reporter notes, it's not clear whether the ad placements were requested by the Trump campaign or NBC.
