The price of Kamala Harris’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ appearance

Vice President Kamala Harris’s “surprise” appearance on “Saturday Night Live” wasn’t actually so surprising — hours before the show aired, there had been speculation on social media that she would appear after a change to her travel itinerary. But the segment, in which Harris appeared with Maya Rudolph, who plays the vice president on the show, was well-received by a friendly audience, if not the FCC commissioner who said that NBC was in violation of the “Equal Time” rule that prohibits networks from giving air time to one candidate and not another.
Commissioner Brendan Carr’s complaint resulted in former President Donald Trump getting free ads during NASCAR and NFL broadcasts, arguably the best of all possible audiences for Trump at this stage in the campaign. Some analysts believe that the election could hinge on male voters turning out in greater numbers than women.
But was Trump actually owed the time? One FCC policy adviser seemed to suggest not, telling Entertainment Weekly that Carr’s comments on social media “do not represent that of the agency.”
It was the latest example in which the FCC seems to be giving conflicting signals because of the way it is set up.
Carr, who is a Republican, is one of five commissioners on a board currently led by a Democrat, Jessica Rosenworcel. But both are often referred to as “FCC commissioner” (followed by their name) in news accounts, which can lead people to believe that the individuals are in charge of the agency and that it is overtly partisan.
In fact, per the FCC website, “Only three commissioners can be of the same political party at any given time and none can have a financial interest in any commission-related business.”
There are currently three Democrats and two Republicans on the commission, giving Democrats an upper hand on issues like internet neutrality — and giving people who don’t know much about the FCC plenty of opportunity for confusion.
Last month, Rosenworcel made headlines for comments that were critical of Trump after controversy about the editing of Harris’s interview with “60 Minutes.”
After Trump wrote on social media that “CBS should lose its license,” Rosenworcel responded with a statement that said, in part, “While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former President may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored.”
Carr, meanwhile, was among those calling for “60 Minutes” to release the transcript of the show.
In the latest dust-up, after The Associated Press reported on Harris’s “Saturday Night Live” appearance, Carr took to social media, calling out a “clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.”
After Trump formally filed a complaint, he was offered spots during broadcasts of NASCAR and the NFL — which, as some people pointed out on X, was actually better than “Saturday Night Live,” given the broadcasts’ respective viewership. While ratings aren’t yet available for the Nov. 2 show, the season premier of “Saturday Night Live” had about 5.3 million viewers, while “Sunday Night Football” typically averages 20 million.
And while Harris’s segment on “Saturday Night Live” included many of her recurring campaign themes in the comedy sketch, Trump’s was an on-brand ad that reached a demographic that is important to him.
The “Equal Time” rules date to the Communications Act of 1934 and promises comparable air time to all “legally qualified candidates.” Carr took to X on Monday to point out this means that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who is still on the ballot in some states, although he is urging his supporters to vote for Trump instead) and Jill Stein have the right to request free air time from NBC, as does Navy veteran Hung Cao, the Republican who is challenging Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine — who also benefited from a “Saturday Night Live” appearance Nov. 2.
Just a month ago, “Saturday Night Live” executive producer Lorne Michaels had said it was unlikely that Harris or Trump would appear on the show, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions. … 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.”