FCC commissioner claims Harris on āSNLā violates āequal timeā rule
A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner has claimed that Vice President Harrisās recent appearance on āSaturday Night Liveā violates the āequal timeā rule.
āThis is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCCās Equal Time rule,ā Commissioner Brendan Carr posted on the social platform X Saturday in response to a post from The Associated Press about Harris being on the show that night.
āThe purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct ā 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,ā Carr, a Trump appointee, continued.
The FCCās āequal timeā rules let rival candidates ask for equal air time.
During her appearance on this weekās episode of āSNLā Harris joined comedian Maya Rudolph, who often impersonates her, for a cold open sketch. While Rudolph was playing the vice president, Harris began her āSNLā debut on the other side of a mirror from the comedian.
āIām just here to remind you, you got this, because you can do something your opponent canāt do ā you can open doors,ā Harris told Rudolph, seemingly referring to a video from earlier in the week in which former President Trump had a hard time grabbing the handle of a garbage truck.
The executive producer of āSNL,ā Lorne Michaels, had said in a past interview that neither Harris nor Trump would make appearances on his show during this election cycle.
āYou canāt bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,ā he said to The Hollywood Reporter two months ago. āYou canāt 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.ā
The Hill has reached out to NBC, the FCC and the Harris campaign for comment.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
#FCC #commissioner #claims #Harris #SNL #violates #equal #time #rule