SNL Officially Informs FCC of VP Harris Appearance; FCC Comments

Posted in: NBC, Peacock, TV | Tagged: kamala harris, saturday night live, snl

SNL Officially Informs FCC of VP Harris Appearance; FCC Comments

SNL officially notified the FCC of VP Kamala Harris's appearance and it appears Brendan Carr isn't quite speaking on behalf of the entire FCC.

Published Sun, 03 Nov 2024 18:44:08 -0600
by Ray Flook
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Earlier today, we reported on how Donald Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner and Project 2025 contributor Brendan Carr was crying foul, claiming that VP Kamala Harris's appearance during the cold open to this weekend's edition of NBC's Saturday Night Live was in violation of the FCC's "equal time" rule that requires television and radio stations to offer political candidates equal air time. Now, it looks like we have some movement on the issue – from both the FCC and SNL. First up, despite Carr labeling the move as "a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC's Equal Time rule," the overall FCC hasn't yet weighed in on the matter – sharing with The Hollywood Reporter that the commission has "not made any determination regarding political programming rules, nor have we received a complaint from any interested parties."

As far as SNL goes, the long-running late-night sketch comedy and music series officially notified the FCC that VP Harris appeared "without charge" for "a total period of 1 minute and 30 seconds on November 2, 2024." Why is that important? Because with that notification making VP Harris's appearance official, other campaigns would be able to request time – though with Election Day only a little more than a day away, the chances of facilitating a request before then would be slim at best. Here's a look at the text of the FCC filing:

Notice Required by Section 73.1943 of the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission:
Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for President in the 2024 national election, appeared without charge on NBC's Saturday Night Live ("SNL") for a total period of 1 minute and 30 seconds on November 2, 2024. Station [WNBC], [NEW YORK, NY], is affiliated with the NBC Television Network and broadcast this episode of SNL, including the portion in which Ms. Harris appeared.

Having the very real VP Harris joining Maya Rudolph's "VP Kamala Harris" was an excellent move for both SNL and the Democratic candidate – but also a surprising one. EP Lorne Michaels shared back in October during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter why he didn't see either VP Harris or Trump appearing before election day on November 5th. "You can't bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions," Michaels explained, adding, "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."

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