After a Federal Communications Commission commissioner accused NBC of violating the agency’s “Equal Time” rule for allowing Kamala Harris to appear on Saturday Night Live, the network gave Donald Trump about 120 seconds worth of free airtime following a NASCAR race and NFL game.
Trump appeared in two 60-second videos after the race and following NBC’s Sunday Night Football. He also posted the ad to his account on X, formerly Twitter.
“We’re two days away from the most important election in the history of our country,” Trump said. “We’ve gotta save our country, and it needs saving, it’s in very bad shape.”
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Also on Sunday, NBC filed a equal time notice with the FCC, saying Harris appeared for roughly 1 minute and 30 seconds on SNL during her skit with comedian Maya Rudolph as part of the show’s cold open just days before Tuesday’s Presidential election.
A Trump spokesperson told NPR’s David Folkenflik that NBC and Comcast reached out on Sunday to offer the time and the Republican nominee filmed a video following a rally.
NBC told Folkenflik it complied with the rule by giving Trump the airtime Sunday.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Senior Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) that NBC violated the agency’s “Equal Time” rule.
“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” Carr wrote. “The purpose of this 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.”
Carr was first nominated by Trump and then again by President Biden. He’s one of five commissioners, including a chairperson.
Generally speaking, the Equal Time rule requires broadcasters to provide the same amount of airtime for one candidate as the other. If one candidate appears on a broadcast channel, it must provide an opportunity for the other candidate(s) to appear for the same amount of time. News broadcasts, political ads and documentaries are exempted from the rule. According to Carr, the FCC chairman under the Obama Administration in 2016 election said the agency would enforce the rule. The stations filed equal opportunity notices when Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton appeared on the show, Carr said.
“Federal law requires that broadcasters provide comparable time and placement to all legally qualified candidates when the Equal Time rule is triggered,” Carr wrote. “With only days before the election, NBC appears to have structured this appearance in a way that evades these requirements. What comparable time and placement can they offer all other qualifying candidates?”
News of Harris’ appearance surfaced on Saturday night, just hours before the show. Her portion of the skit lasted about two-and-a-half minutes with it ending by her and with Rudolph together shouting the famed “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night” catchphrase. Carr pointed out that SNL creator Lorne Michaels told the Hollywood Reporter that he didn’t expect Trump nor Harris to appear on the show.
“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.”
The Equal Time Rule comes up from time to time, especially with celebrities or TV personalities. Some TV stations pulled Mehmet Oz’s “Dr. Oz” TV show amidst his ultimately unsuccessful run for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania in 2022.
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