Brendan Carr, the senior Republican commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), criticized [1] NBC for allegedly violating the FCC’s Equal Time rule by featuring Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live (SNL) shortly before Election Day.
kamala and kamala pic.twitter.com/iviIdlgDJS [2]
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) November 3, 2024 [3]
Carr suggested that NBC structured the appearance to avoid the legal requirement to give equal airtime to other qualifying candidates, including former President Donald Trump.
Carr, voicing his concerns on X (formerly Twitter), stated, “This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule. 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.” He added, “Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns.”
This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.
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.… https://t.co/LliZF0po9t [4]
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 3, 2024 [5]
Harris, 60, appeared on SNL in a skit with Maya Rudolph, who has frequently portrayed her on the show.
The brief segment, under three minutes long, featured a humorous exchange where Rudolph quipped, “I’m gonna vote for us,” to which Harris replied, “Any chance you’re registered in Pennsylvania?”
Kamala Harris spent THREE HOURS rehearsing for this cringe fest on SNL.
Complete with the fake black accent.
This is a tough watch. Good Lord. pic.twitter.com/B3RbafOsH9 [6]
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) November 3, 2024 [7]
NBC, licensed by the FCC to use public airwaves, is subject to more rigorous rules under the Equal Time provision.
The rule, which the FCC enforces, requires that broadcasters provide equal airtime to all legally qualified candidates in a campaign if one is given airtime on the network.
Lorne Michaels, SNL’s executive producer, previously hinted at the issue during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, suggesting the show would avoid featuring main candidates due to election laws. “You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,” Michaels stated. “You can’t have the main candidates without having all the candidates.”
NBC and the Harris campaign have not yet commented on Carr’s allegations. In past election cycles, the FCC has enforced the Equal Time rule with SNL appearances from political figures, including former President Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
During Trump’s appearance on SNL in 2015, other presidential candidates received airtime as a result of the Equal Time rule.
Federal law doesn’t require identical appearances for all candidates but mandates “comparable time and placement.”
In this case, Carr argued NBC should provide equivalent access for opposing candidates on the ballot.
The Trump-Vance campaign also voiced criticism of Harris’s SNL appearance, with spokesman Steven Cheung commenting, “Kamala 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.”
Cheung added, “For the last four years, Kamala’s destructive policies have led to untold misery and hurt for all Americans. She broke it, and President Trump will fix it.”
Carr’s comments come amid heightened scrutiny of election regulations and the enforcement of federal broadcast requirements, particularly given that media outlets play a significant role in voter engagement as Election Day nears. In his criticism, Carr underscored the FCC’s responsibility to uphold election law and prevent potential bias from network programming.
The FCC, currently led by Democratic Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, operates with four commissioners, split between two Republicans and two Democrats.
With Harris’s appearance on SNL drawing attention, debate over media influence and compliance with federal regulations may escalate in the final days leading up to the election.