Presidential candidate Donald Trump has reportedly been given free air time by NBC after Kamala Harris appeared on Saturday Night Live this weekend.
The Democratic nominee appeared on the program for around 1 minute and 30 seconds this weekend—meaning that if another candidate requests it, they must be given equal time under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules. A political ad by Trump ran during NBC's NASCAR coverage and NFL coverage of the Minnesota Vikings-Indianapolis Colts game on Sunday evening.
Trump appeared in an ad of around the same length during the post-race coverage, speaking directly to camera while donning a "Make America Great Again" baseball cap. Telling Americans to go out and vote just days before the November 5 presidential election, Trump said America would "end up in a depression" if Harris is elected this week.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "a source familiar with the matter" said the ad was shown to give him equal coverage under the FCC guidelines, which state: "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," the rules read. A station is also not required to seek out "opposing legally qualified candidates and offer them Equal Opportunities."
Newsweek has contacted Trump's campaign team and NBC via email outside of regular working hours for clarification.
Brendan Carr, a senior Republican on the FCC, said Harris's appearance on SNL, in which she joined comedian Maya Rudolph impersonating her during its cold open, said NBC made a "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," Carr said on X, formerly Twitter. "Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns."
He said the decision to have Harris appear on the show runs afoul of the FCC's seven-day rule, which "affords qualifying candidates one week to request their Equal Time from the broadcast station." He said this is in place to help a candidate prepare relevant materials they wish to publish.
"They would need some time for that. And the rule does not require candidates to choose between a snap response or none at all," he said.
Carr later posted on X a notice issued by NBC to the FCC, saying Harris "appeared without charge" on SNL.
Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of SNL, told The Hollywood Reporter in September this year that neither candidate would make an appearance on the show due to FCC equal time rules.
"You can't bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions," Michaels said. "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."
English (US) ·