Equal Time Concerns Raised Over Harris' SNL Appearance

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NBC aired a message from former President Donald Trump during Sunday’s broadcast of a NASCAR race and an NFL game, after FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ appearance on “Saturday Night Live” and accused the network of trying to evade an FCC rule requiring broadcasters to give rival candidates equal airtime if they want it.

The appearance was related to providing Trump with equal time. The outlet noted that it was not clear if the Trump campaign requested the slot or if it was provided by NBC.

Harris made her debut on SNL less than three days before the election in a short skit for the episode’s cold open with comedian Maya Rudolph, who plays Harris on the show.

A FCC commissioner had opined that Vice President Harris’s recent appearance on “Saturday Night Live” violated the “equal time” rule.

“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” 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. 

Carr said Harris' appearance on SNL may have broken the rule if NBC did not also send an invitation to former President Trump.

Brendan Carr

During her appearance on this week’s episode of “SNL” Harris joined comedian Maya Rudolph, who often impersonates her, for a cold open sketch. While Rudolph was playing the vice president, Harris began her “SNL” debut on the other side of a mirror from the comedian.

“I’m just here to remind you, you got this, because you can do something your opponent can’t do — you can open doors,” 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 “SNL,” Lorne Michaels, had said in a past interview that neither Harris nor Trump would make appearances on his show during this election cycle.

"This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC's Equal Time rule," Carr wrote of Harris' appearance. "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. Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns.”

Trump campaign Senior Advisor Jason Miller told Fox News Digital that Trump did not receive an invite.