Following Vice President Kamala Harris’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” the senior Republican commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blasted the move, alleging it violated a regulatory rule imposed by the agency. According to Brendan Carr, the FCC commissioner, Harris’s appearance on the network was a “clear and blatant” attempt to subvert an “Equal Time” rule.
The FCC regulation reportedly requires that opposing candidates receive an equivalent amount of air time. Carr claimed that NBC “structured” the vice president’s appearance to undermine this rule by timing it so close to Election Day. As a result, there was little time for former President Donald Trump to make an appearance before the presidential election on Tuesday.
Taking to X, Carr said in an extensive thread, “This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.” He added, “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.”
The rules that govern broadcast radio and television that utilize public airwaves state, “FCC rules seek to ensure that no legally qualified candidate for office is unfairly given less access to the airwaves – outside of bona fide news exemptions – than their opponent. Equal opportunities generally means providing comparable time and placement to opposing candidates; it does not require a station to provide opposing candidates with programs identical to the initiating candidate.”
Providing some historical context to the rules, 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 sought it. Stations did the same thing when 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,” the commissioner added. He further explained the seemingly strategic decision to have Harris on just days before the election. “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?”
Furthermore, SNL creator Lorne Michael even acknowledged the Equal Time laws during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter in which he stated that he hadn’t reached out to any political candidates because of the regulations. “You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,” Michaels said.
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Reportedly, the creator of the late-night comedy show indicated that he did not intend to have any candidates on ahead of the 2024 presidential election. “You can’t have the main candidates without having all the candidates, and there are lots of minor candidates that are only on the ballot in, like, three states and that becomes really complicated,” he added. However, NBC was reportedly forced to allow Trump to air a free 90 second campaign ad on the network to make a provision for the Equal Time rule on Sunday.
Watch Kamala’s appearance below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.