The move raised concerns from an FCC commissioner on late Saturday.
Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” in the final days before the Nov. 5 election, portraying herself as the mirror-image of Maya Rudolph’s version of her in the show’s cold open.
A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner on Sunday expressed that the Democratic presidential candidate’s “SNL” appearance might have breached the agency’s rule about candidates receiving equal time.
“This is a clear and blatant attempt to circumvent the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote on the social platform X late on Saturday night.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Harris campaign and NBC for their comments on Sunday. Neither her campaign nor Trump’s campaign have publicly addressed Carr’s remarks.
In a subsequent post on X, Carr mentioned that former President Barack Obama’s FCC chairman had “made it clear that the agency would enforce the Equal Time rule when candidate Trump appeared on ‘SNL’” in 2015.
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He also speculated that NBC might have structured this appearance in a way to sidestep these requirements.
Harris made the surprise visit to New York City with the election looming, momentarily stepping away from the battleground states where she’s been campaigning to appear on NBC’s iconic sketch comedy show, potentially reaching a nationwide audience.
In the “SNL” segment, the first words spoken by the candidate as she sat opposite Rudolph, both dressed similarly, were drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a wide smile that she maintained throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.”
In unison, they urged supporters to “Keep Kamala and carry-on-ala,” affirmed their shared “belief in the promise of America,” and concluded with the iconic “Live from New York it’s Saturday night!”
Rudolph first portrayed Harris on the show in 2019 and has continued to play her this season, offering an impression of the vice president. Andy Samberg, a former cast member, returned on Saturday night as Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, while standup comic Jim Gaffigan portrayed running mate Tim Walz, and longtime alum Dana Carvey once again played President Joe Biden.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, expressed surprise at Harris’s appearance on “SNL” considering what he described as her unfavorable portrayal on the show. When asked if Trump had been invited to appear, he responded: “I don’t know. Probably not.”
Earlier this year, Lorne Michaels, the longstanding executive producer of “SNL,” told a reporter that neither Trump nor Harris would appear on the sketch comedy show during the 2024 election.
Both Trump and Harris are scheduled to make multiple campaign stops and host several rallies in the final days of the election, set to take place on Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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