FCC Commissioner blasts Harris’ SNL appearance as ‘clear and blatant effort’ to evade Equal Time rule

The senior Republican commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission blasted Vice President Kamala Harris’ “Saturday Night Live” debut as a “clear and blatant effort” to evade the Equal Time rule.

Brendan Carr stressed that the FCC’s “equal time” requirements mandate opposing candidates to get the same air time, and alleged that NBC “structured this appearance in a way that evades these requirements.”

Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reacts next to Maya Rudolph as she makes an appearance on Saturday Night Live in New York City. REUTERS
Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr speaks during the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference. Anadolu via Getty Images
Donald Trump talks to reporters as he sits in a garbage truck Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. AP
X / @BrendanCarrFCC

“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,” Carr wrote on X.

Harris, 60, made a surprise appearance on SNL and came face-to-face with her impersonator Maya Rudolph in the show’s cold open where she urged voters to back her on Nov. 5.