Saturday Night Live has been accused by some of breaking election laws with a cameo from Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris on their Saturday night broadcast.
Harris made a surprise appearance during the cold-open segment of the show, appearing opposite Maya Rudolph’s version of her in a mirror skit in which they talked to each other.
Rudolph’s character said, in the skit that she would like to “talk to someone else who has walked in my shoes.” The camera then panned over to Harris, on the opposite side of the mirror.
Her appearance was greeted in deep blue New York with screams of joy.
Harris, trying to suppress her trademark cackle, replied: “You and me both, Sister.”
It was a desperate ploy by her campaign and Democrats at NBC, to make the Vice President seem more relatable. It was cringeworthy.
Kamala Harris talks to Kamala Harris pic.twitter.com/AJuW7aO7VM
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) November 3, 2024
The problem is, that “SNL” may have violated the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) equal-time rule.
Fox News White House senior correspondent Jacqui Heinrich said on X, that Donald Trump’s campaign was not contacted for a similar appearance.
Heinrich, writing on X, wrote: “A senior Trump campaign advisor told FOX that SNL had not extended an invitation to President Trump.”
Brendan Carr, FCC commissioner, has come out to say unequivocally, that the sketch comedy show did in fact violate the rule.
Carr wrote in X: “This is a clear, blatant attempt to evade FCC Equal Time rules.”
He added:
This rule was created to prevent this kind of partisan and biased conduct, where a broadcaster uses the airwaves of public radio to influence a candidate just before an election. The broadcaster must offer Equal Time to all other qualified campaigns.
Heinrich’s reporting shows that the NBC show did not make such an offer.
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
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 3, 2024
The Equal-Time Rule is a regulation that was derived from Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1935. The equal-time rule is a regulation derived from Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934. It aims to prevent broadcasters from giving preferential treatment to political candidates during elections and to ensure that all candidates who are legally qualified for public office have an equal opportunity to use broadcasting facilities.
Equal time does not mean the same time, but an equal amount of time for each candidate if they request it. It seems unfair to allow Harris to perform in front of millions of viewers while refusing Trump that same platform.
The Independent reports that SNL’s executive producer Lorne Micheals himself stated that the show would not allow political cameos in order to “not run afoul” of election laws.
Executive producer Michaels told The Hollywood Reporter that due to election laws and equal time provisions, it was not possible to bring in the actual candidates. “You can’t get the main candidates if you don’t include all of the candidates. There are also a lot of minor candidates who are only on ballots in three states, which makes it difficult.”
He only said it in October.
During the 2016 presidential election, the FCC chair under President Obama stated explicitly that the equal time rule would be applied whenever Trump appeared as a candidate on “Saturday Night Live.” NBC stations publicly submitted Equal Opportunity Notices guaranteeing that other candidates who were eligible for office would receive equal airtime on request.
Trump has no chance to get equal airtime as a presidential candidate by allowing Harris to be on the airwaves on the Saturday before Election Day. This is true even if Trump wanted to make a request. We’ll keep this story updated.
