(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A Federal Communications Commissioner suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris’s surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live just days before the Nov. 5 election may have violated federal law.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr argued that NBC scheduled Harris’s SNL appearance to evade the Equal Time rule, which mandates balanced airtime for political candidates. With the election scheduled for Tuesday, President Donald Trump cannot get equal time.
“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” Carr wrote on X, responding to an Associated Press article about Harris’s appearance. The campaign kept the appearance a secret until hours before air.
“The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct – a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election. Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns,” Carr added.
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.
NBC stations publicly filed Equal Opportunity notices to ensure that all other qualifying candidates could obtain Equal Time if they… pic.twitter.com/CZkaeGyRhL
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 3, 2024
Carr noted that in 2016, NBC-affiliated stations “filed Equal Opportunity notices to ensure that all other qualifying candidates could obtain Equal Time if they sought it.” The commissioner said the network’s stations followed this process in the 2016 election when both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton appeared on SNL.
“Federal law requires that broadcasters provide comparable time and placement to all legally qualified candidates when the Equal Time rule is triggered,” Carr continued.
He added, “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?”
Jennifer Friedman, NBC Universal’s head of communications, did not respond to Headline USA’s request for comment, which was sent outside of business hours at midnight on Sunday. Notably, previously served as a deputy press secretary at the Obama White House.
Watch Harris’s appearance on SNL below.
Live from New York, it's Saturday night.pic.twitter.com/qQ2IJdqqFA
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 3, 2024
