Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on “Saturday Night Live” weeks ago, but the repercussions of her cameo are still reverberating.
And it pretty much boils down to the “equal time” rule, which affords opposing candidates to ask for equal air time, The Hill reported.
Since Harris’ appearance on the show, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received at least 70 complaints regarding the equal time rule for the two presidential candidates, according to records obtained by The Hill as part of a Freedom of Information Act request.
Harris appeared on “SNL” in a skit with Maya Rudolph, who impersonated Harris on the show, just three days before the Nov. 5 election.
“I’m just here to remind you, you got this, because you can do something your opponent can’t do — you can open doors,” Harris said to Rudolph, referencing former President Donald Trump.
Brendan Carr, a senior Republican FCC commissioner appointed by Trump, immediately said the appearance was a “clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.”
President-elect Trump has since picked Carr to chair the FCC.
Carr is not the only person to point out the inequity.
“I think it’s unconscionable for SNL to have only invited a single candidate onto their show this past Saturday,” someone from Austin, Texas, wrote. “It shows an extreme political bias and does not offer any other candidate the same opportunity to deliver their message.”
Another brought NBC into the complaint.
“What a crock of crap that NBC pulled on the American people. That was a cheap shot by NBC and SNL to try and influence the presidential race,” someone from Spring Creek, Nev., wrote. The person added NBC “should be punished for this stunt.”
“This is no time for propaganda to be allowed in our country,” a person from Concord, N.C., said.
A Libertarian from Oklahoma City, Okla., wrote that even though they “don’t really have a dog in this fight … NBC’s allowing of their program ‘Saturday Night Live’ to have Vice President Harris appear in the opening of their weekly program I believe constitutes a violation of the FCC equal time rule.”
Other candidates “to my knowledge we’re not even offered to appear in the aforementioned sketch show,” the viewer wrote.
“We currently live in a time where many Americans do not trust the election process and for a network to take action as described above, does nothing but fuel the mistrust in media and our election process,” the person said.
Some are calling for the FCC to revoke NBC’s broadcast license.
“Enough is enough! Enforce your rules to the harshest degree so this won’t happen again. You will find the same programs breaking the law again and again if they are not held to the standards of the law,” viewer from Del Mar, Calif., wrote.
“This situation is not merely an oversight; it is a deliberate act that undermines the principles of fairness and impartiality that are vital to the integrity of our elections,” according to someone from Fort Worth, Texas.
“The public airwaves belong to the people, and it is unacceptable for a major network to manipulate the political landscape to serve the interests of one candidate over others,” they said.
NBC News aired a short message from Trump the day after the “SNL” show in an apparent last-ditch effort to provide Trump with equal time on the network.
The clip was aired near the end of a Sunday night NASCAR playoff race.
