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NBC Gives Trump Airtime After Harris SNL Appearance

Umito November 5, 2024

Left: Democratic presidential running mate Kamala Harris appears on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” with Maya Rudolph on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in New York. Harris made an unannounced trip to New York to appear to briefly get away from the battleground states in which she is campaigning just three days before the election (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin). Right: Donald Trump in a political advertisement broadcast on NBC on November 3, 2024 (X/Donald J. Trump).

After a Federal Communications Commission commissioner accused NBC of violating the agency’s “equal time” rule by allowing Kamala Harris to appear on Saturday Night Live, the network gave Donald Trump approximately 120 seconds of free airtime after a NASCAR race and an NFL game.

Trump appeared in two 60-second videos after the race and after NBC’s Sunday Night Football. He also posted the announcement on his X account, formerly Twitter.

“We are two days away from the most important election in the history of our country,” Trump said. “We have to save our country, and it needs saving, it’s in very bad shape.”

pic.twitter.com/n9O9bZbQur

– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2024

Also on Sunday, NBC filed an equal-length notice with the FCC, saying Harris appeared for approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds on SNL during her sketch with comedian Maya Rudolph as part of the cold open of the broadcast a few days ago. Tuesday’s presidential election.

A Trump spokesperson told NPR’s David Folkenflik that NBC and Comcast reached out Sunday to offer time and that the Republican candidate filmed a video following a rally.

Statement from NBC on the SNL fracas:

We granted the Trump campaign’s request for equal time, consistent with our regulatory obligations.

(Background: Trump spots have appeared on Nascar and NFL post-game shows.)

– David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) November 4, 2024

NBC told Folkenflik that it complied with the rule by giving airtime to Trump on Sunday.

Like Law and Crime previously reportedSenior Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in a statement. series of posts on (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 influence in favor of a candidate on the eve of an election. Unless the broadcaster offers Equal Time to other eligible campaigns.

Carr was nominated for the first time by Trump, then again by President Biden. He is one of five commissioners, including a president.

Generally speaking, the equal time rule requires broadcasters to give the same airtime to one candidate as to the other. If a candidate appears on a broadcast channel, this must give other candidates the opportunity to appear for the same duration. News broadcasts, political advertisements and documentaries are exempt from this rule. According to Carr, the FCC chairman during the Obama administration during the 2016 election said the agency would enforce the rule. Stations filed equal opportunity notices when Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton appeared on the show, Carr said.

“Federal law requires broadcasters to offer comparable time and placement to all legally qualified applicants when the equal time rule is triggered,” Carr wrote. “Just 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 to all other qualified candidates? »

News of Harris’ appearance surfaced Saturday night, just hours before the show. Her part of the sketch lasted about two and a half minutes and ended with her and Rudolph together shouting the famous catchphrase “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night.” Carr pointed out that SNL creator Lorne Michaels told the Hollywood journalist that he didn’t expect Trump or Harris to appear on the show.

“You can’t bring in the real candidates because of election laws and equal time provisions,” Michaels said. “You can’t have the major candidates without having all the candidates, and there are a lot of minor candidates who are only on the ballot in three states, and it gets really complicated.”

The equal time rule comes up from time to time, especially with celebrities or television personalities. Some television channels have removed Mehmet Oz’s “Dr.” Oz” TV show in the middle of its finally unsuccessful campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania in 2022.

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