FCC commissioner rips NBC over Harris' last-minute SNL appearance: 'Plainly designed to evade' the rules

The senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission lambasted NBC's decision to host Vice President Kamala Harris on "Saturday Night Live" in the final episode ahead of Election Day, while not offering equal time to former President Trump or other candidates in the presidential cycle. 

"This has all the appearances of, at least some leadership at NBC, at SNL, making clear that they wanted to weigh-in in favor of one candidate before the election. That's exactly why, for decades, we've had an equal time rule on the book, is to prevent that. Because remember, broadcasters are placed in a special position of trust. They're not just like any other person with a soapbox on the corner. They have a license from the federal government that obligates them to operate in the public interest," FCC commissioner Brendan Carr told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview Sunday morning. 

Carr was reacting to Harris's last-minute appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" just days ahead of Election Day. The FCC commissioner had weighed in on X this weekend that the broadcasting company had violated the FCC's equal time rule by hosting the Democratic presidential nominee, but not Trump or other presidential candidates such as Jill Stein or even Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – who is still on election ballots after dropping out of the race earlier this year and endorsing Trump. 

The Federal Communications Commission’s equal-time rule was established in 1934 and requires radio and television broadcast stations to provide the same amount of time for competing political candidates. There are exceptions to the rule such as newscasts, documentaries and political debates.

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"NBC has structured this in a way that's plainly designed to evade the FCC's rules. We're talking 50 hours before Election Day starts, without any notice to other candidates, as far as I can tell," Carr continued. "And after previously coming out and saying they weren't going to do this precisely because they did not believe that they could do this consistent with election laws and the FCC's equal time rule."

"I think every member of the FCC needs to speak up immediately, given how close we are to an election and make clear that we will follow through, enforce our laws. And I think every single remedy needs to be on the table in these circumstances," he said. 

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Harris was scheduled to fly to Detroit on Saturday evening, but her flight landed at Laguardia, teeing up speculation she would appear on "SNL" during its final airing ahead of Election Day. 

Harris did in fact appear on Saturday evening, depicting the "mirror image" of herself while speaking with former "SNL" cast member Maya Rudolph, who was depicting the Democratic nominee for president. Harris’ appearance came at the end of the cold open, which poked fun at Trump for wearing a sanitation vest at a rally last week, as well as Joe Biden's repeated gaffes.

Rudolph, depicting Harris, wondered during the sketch: "I wish I could talk to someone who’s been in my shoes. You know, a Black, south Asian woman running for president. Preferably from the Bay Area."

Harris then was revealed to be sitting across the table from her, leading to cheers from the audience. Harris grinned and said, "You and me both, sister."

"I'm just here to remind you, you got this. Because you can do something your opponent cannot do. You can open doors," she said in a shot at Trump, referring to him climbing into a garbage truck last week while on the campaign trail. 

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"The American people want to stop the chaos," Rudolph said at a later point in the sketch, with Harris adding, "And end the drama-la."

"With a cool new step mom-ala. Get back in our pajama-las. And watch a rom-com-ala," Rudolph said, with the two later touting their "belief in the promise of America."

Carr is urging his fellow FCC commissioners to join him in calling for action and investigation into NBC hosting Harris on Saturday evening. 

"One commissioner standing alone, there's no real consequence that I can impose at this point. You need the FCC chairperson or at least three commissioners on the FCC to agree to take action. We'll see if we end up there with this commission or otherwise," he said.

"At the end of the day, the penalties range all the way up to potentially, in egregious situations, license revocations. And in my view, every single remedy needs to be on the table, at least as an initial matter. What we investigate more and find out – maybe they have some defense that I'm not aware of – but all remedies should be on the table because you obviously have to engage in some sort of response that if this proves to be an entire violation, there is a consequence sufficient enough that no broadcast station does this again. Whether it's to benefit Republican or Democrat, that doesn't matter to me. We have rules on the books, we have to uphold them."

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Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller told the Fox News Channel earlier this weekend that SNL did not extend an invitation to Trump. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung lambasted Harris' appearance as a sign of desperation to appeal to voters as "her campaign spirals down the drain into obscurity." 

"Kamala Harris has nothing substantive to offer the American people, so that’s why she’s living out her warped fantasy cosplaying with her elitist friends on Saturday Night Leftists as her campaign spirals down the drain into obscurity. For the last four years, Kamala’s destructive policies have led to untold misery and hurt for all Americans. She broke it, and President Trump will fix it," Cheung told Fox News Digital earlier this weekend. 

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton's running mate during her failed 2016 presidential run, also appeared in a skit on Saturday as a contestant on a game show who couldn't remember who Kaine was.

Carr said Kaine's appearance also likely violated the equal-time rule, as he is running for re-election in Virginia against Republican challenger Hung Cao.

"Later on in the program, Sen. Kaine here in Virginia, where I am, appeared on the program, and he's up for election on Tuesday as well. There's an opposing campaign, the Hung Cao campaign, they may also have a right now to comparable time in programming," he said. 

Lorne Michaels, the creator of "Saturday Night Live," said just last month that it was highly unlikely that either Trump or Harris would appear on the comedy show, explicitly citing the equal time provision laws. 

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"You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions," Michaels told the Hollywood Reporter in October. "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."

Carr noted in the Fox Digital interview that Michaels was aware of the FCC's equal time rule just the other week. 

"This is exactly why Lorne Michaels just weeks ago went public and said they would not be doing any candidate appearances, because he understood the thicket that it would throw NBC into. Something changed at the last minute, and they've now gone down this path. And again, I think it's important that the FCC come together and we take action. Otherwise, our rules are absolutely meaningless," he said. 

Carr noted in an X thread on Saturday that during the 2016 election cycle, Trump appeared on "SNL," which sparked NBC affiliates to file equal opportunity notices to ensure that Trump’s challengers during the cycle were offered the same "SNL" opportunity. When Clinton also appeared on the show that cycle, affiliates again publicly filed equal opportunity notices. 

Following the last-minute appearance on the comedy show, critics on social media also took issue with the sketch itself, saying it appeared eerily similar to Trump’s 2015 sketch on Jimmy Fallon’s "The Tonight Show." Fallon dressed up like Trump during that sketch, with the pair speaking to one another through a mirror, like Harris’ "SNL" appearance. 

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Critics called Harris’ sketch a "rip off" of Trump’s 2015 Fallon appearance. 

"Kamala ripped off the same bit Trump did when he was on Saturday Night Live in 2015… and Trump’s was double the length," radio host Ari Hoffman posted on X.

Both the Harris and Trump sketches follow other "in the mirror" sketches Fallon has performed with other high-profile celebrities and politicians, including Mick Jagger in 2001 on "SNL" and now-Utah Sen. Mitt Romney in 2015. 

Harris and Rudolph’s Harris character capped off the appearance with the iconic message: "Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!"

An NBC spokesperson told Fox Digital that the broadcaster will comply with any regulatory obligations, and has hosted numerous political figures from either side of the aisles across the decades. 

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Fox News Digital’s David Rutz and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. 

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