Tipsheet
Premium

What NBC Did After Accusations It Violated Equal Time Rule With Harris' SNL Appearance

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?”

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.

As the Hollywood Reporter notes, it's not clear whether the ad placements were requested by the Trump campaign or NBC.