Staff Reports
Vice President Kamala Harris decided to crash the party over at NBC’s iconic “Saturday Night Live” last weekend, stirring up controversy and leaving a trail of raised brows along the way. While showcasing her comedic chops may have seemed like a move straight out of a sitcom, critics are rolling their eyes and claiming that this was a blatant attempt to skirt election laws.
Leading the charge against this questionable appearance is Brendan Carr, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who wasted no time in labeling the event a clear violation of the Equal Time rule. This rule is supposed to ensure that all candidates have equal access to the airwaves, and Carr certainly hit the nail on the head when he suggested that inviting Harris as a guest on a long-running comedy show right before the election reeks of bias. Apparently, NBC didn’t get the memo that public airwaves can’t be used to campaign for one candidate while giving the cold shoulder to the rest.
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
The comedy world, it seems, is a tricky place for election laws. Lorne Michaels, the mastermind behind “SNL,” even preemptively acknowledged the Equal Time rule during an interview, explaining why they can’t just invite any ol’ candidate to play along. According to Michaels, inviting prominent political figures would be a logistical nightmare, especially since several candidates are only competing in a handful of states. Funny how that logic seems to evaporate when it comes to inviting the Vice President for a little comedy sketch, though.
The FCC’s Equal Time rule was designed to uphold fairness in the political landscape by mandating that media outlets provide comparable opportunities for all legally qualified candidates. However, there is a catch: they aren’t required to give every candidate the same airtime as the one that sparked the initial interest. That means if a hodgepodge of political figures is scuttling around asking for airtime, it can still get a little chaotic—and quite possibly biased.
So, here’s the takeaway: NBC, with a smirk, decided to stroll down the path of partisan politics, playing host to Harris and potentially leaving everyone else in the dust. This little spectacle raises important questions about the network’s commitment to fair broadcasting, especially as the election nears. With one hand, they might be trying to entertain viewers, but with the other, they could be shaking hands with political bias that has many feeling as if they’re the butt of the joke.
