NBC violated the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) “Equal Time” rule by inviting Democrat selectee Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live on the last weekend before the election without extending the same invite to former President Donald Trump, according to the FCC Commissioner.
“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,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr.
This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC's Equal Time rule.
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 3, 2024
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
“Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns,” he added.
The FCC rule states:
“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.”
Harris appeared in the show’s “cold open” opposite Maya Rudolph, who impersonated her on the program.
CRINGE 🥴
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 3, 2024
Kackling Kamala does an SNL skit where she sits and talks to herself.. pic.twitter.com/2dWBhi2mWw
The sketch directly copied Trump’s 2015 appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, earning her mockery online for “plagiarizing” Trump’s sketch.
Even her SNL skit was plagiarized 🤣 pic.twitter.com/EQDQMGgtGG
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) November 3, 2024
NBC had previously claimed it would not invite either candidate on the show.
SNL producer Lorne Michaels told The Hollywood Reporter in September:
In a recent interview ahead of the show’s 50th season, SNL creator and long-running maestro Lorne Michaels revealed that he hadn’t reached out to the real-life candidates, and he didn’t intend to before the 2024 election. “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, and then clarified: “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.”
Trump has no time to appear on SNL before the election on Tuesday.
It remains to be seen if NBC will incur any sanctions, fines, or any legal consequences by the FCC for violating the Equal Times rule.