FCC regulator claims Kamala Harris surprise SNL appearance violates ‘equal time’ rule

4 November 2024, 02:14

A senior FCC Commissioner said the Vice President’s appearance on the show violated the ‘equal time’ rule that governs political broadcasting.

Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, said Kamala Harris’ surprise appearance on the show was a “clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC's Equal Time rule.”

The rule is designed to ensure that opposing candidates get the same or comparable air time.

Commissioner Carr wrote on X: “The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biassed 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.”

On Saturday, the Democratic presidential hopeful appeared as the "mirror image" of herself alongside actress Maya Rudolph, who reprised her role impersonating the vice president, during the comedy sketch show's cold open.

The pair give each other a pep talk before resolving to "end the dram-ala" and "keep calm-ala and carry on-a-la".

According to FCC guidelines, “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.”

The Trump campaign claims it was not contacted or offered any time by Saturday Night Live or NBC, the network that airs the show.

It is worth noting that a network is not required to reach out to opposing candidates and offer them equal opportunities - candidates have to request time on the show themselves.

Lorne Michaels, SNL’s executive producer,  had said in the past that neither Harris nor Trump would make appearances on his show during this election cycle.“You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in September.

“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.”

Read more: Kamala Harris makes surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live

Read more: Harris and Trump make closing pitches with two days to election

The Trump campaign previously criticised Harris’s appearance, saying Harris “has nothing substantive to offer the American people

“So that's why 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”, spokesperson Steven Cheung said.

Trump also appeared on SNL in 2015, in the runup to his 2016 election win.

NBC issued a statement claiming they offered Harris free airtime within the meaning of the equal time rule.

Mr Carr, who was nominated by both Trump and Biden, claims NBC did not provide Republican candidate Trump with enough time to request airtime under the equal time rule.

He said: “Since SNL made a secret 180 only 50 hours or so before election day, their decision runs into the seven-day rule component of the Equal Time statute."

He continued: “NBC structured the SNL candidate appearance (just hours before an election) in a way that denies all other candidates their one week procedural right.”

In a statement, FCC spokesperson Jonathan Uriarte said the commission "has not made any determination regarding political programming rules, nor have we received a complaint from any interested parties.”