It’s not uncommon for politicians to make random cameos on the famous late-night comedy sketch show “Saturday Night Live.”
That’s exactly what Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris did over the weekend.
But critics say that Harris’ appearance (which is going viral), could be in violation of federal law.
Here’s how.
According to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner Brendan Carr, a senior Republican, blasted NBC’s decision to host Harris on “Saturday Night Live” in the final episode ahead of Election Day and not offering equal time to former President Trump or other candidates in the presidential cycle.
“This has all the appearances of, at least some leadership at NBC, at SNL, making clear that they wanted to weigh-in in favor of one candidate before the election. That’s exactly why, for decades, we’ve had an equal time rule on the book, is to prevent that. Because remember, broadcasters are placed in a special position of trust. They’re not just like any other person with a soapbox on the corner. They have a license from the federal government that obligates them to operate in the public interest,” Carr told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview yesterday.
Carr was reacting to Harris’s last-minute appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” just days ahead of Election Day.
The FCC commissioner had weighed in on X this weekend that the broadcasting company had violated the FCC’s equal time rule by hosting the Democratic presidential nominee, but not Trump or other presidential candidates such as Jill Stein or even Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – who is still on election ballots after dropping out of the race earlier this year and endorsing Trump.
According to Fox News, the FCC’s equal-time rule was established in 1934 and requires radio and television broadcast stations to provide the same amount of time for competing political candidates. There are exceptions to the rule such as newscasts, documentaries and political debates.
“NBC has structured this in a way that’s plainly designed to evade the FCC’s rules. We’re talking 50 hours before Election Day starts, without any notice to other candidates, as far as I can tell,” Carr continued. “And after previously coming out and saying they weren’t going to do this precisely because they did not believe that they could do this consistent with election laws and the FCC’s equal time rule.”
“I think every member of the FCC needs to speak up immediately, given how close we are to an election and make clear that we will follow through, enforce our laws. And I think every single remedy needs to be on the table in these circumstances,” he said.
Harris appeared on SNL Saturday evening, depicting the “mirror image” of herself while speaking with former cast member Maya Rudolph, who was depicting the Democratic nominee for president.
Harris’ appearance came at the end of the show’s cold open, which also dug at Trump for wearing a sanitation vest at a rally last week, as well as Joe Biden’s repeated gaffes.