The FCC Responded To A Commissioner Claiming That Kamala Harris' "SNL" Appearance Broke The "Equal Time" Rule

If you watched SNL last night, you probably saw US presidential candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris make an appearance.

Kamala appeared alongside actor and former SNL star Maya Rudolph, who's been playing the SNL version of Kamala this season, during the show's cold open.

Former vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, who ran alongside Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election, also made a cameo later on in the show.

Understandably, it's Kamala's appearance that's making the most noise today — and not exactly for positive reasons, either.

Last night — hours before Kamala's appearance, and right around when rumors of the surprise cameo started making the rounds — FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr tweeted a claim that Kamala's appearance would represent "a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC's Equal Time rule."

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

@BrendanCarrFCC / Via x.com
Brendan is one of five FCC commissioners. He was appointed by former US president Donald Trump (ever heard of him?) back in 2017.

The "Equal Time" rule, if you're unfamiliar, requires US broadcasters to provide equal access to political candidates competing against each other. "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 agency's official site states.

In his tweet thread, Brendan pointed to Trump's appearance on SNL before the election, claiming that "NBC stations publicly filed Equal Opportunity notices to ensure that all other qualifying candidates could obtain Equal Time if they sought it." "Stations did the same thing when Clinton appeared on SNL," he added.

So, someone's in trouble here, right? Well, not quite. In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, the FCC reportedly claimed that Brendan's statement does not reflect their views on the appearance.

The agency added that they had “not made any determination regarding political programming rules, nor have we received a complaint from any interested parties.”

So...yeah. Will we hear more about this? Probably not, but who knows these days. But, hey, only two days until Election Day!