NBC aired a Donald Trump ad free of charge on Sunday to follow FCC rules after Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on Saturday Night Live.
Harris made a surprise appearance on the most recent episode of Saturday Night Live. For approximately 90 seconds, Harris performed in a sketch with Maya Rudolph — who’s played Harris in a number of previous sketches — in the show’s cold open.
In response to the sketch, Republican FCC commissioner Brendan Carr accused NBC of trying to “evade” the FCC’s Equal Time rule. The rule requires networks to offer equal screen time to presidential candidates.
“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule. The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election. Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns,” Carr pointed out.
He went on to note that the issue had arisen in 2016 when Trump appeared on the same show, and that former President Barack Obama’s FCC chair had stated that the “Equal Time” provision would be enforced.
“In the 2016 cycle, President Obama’s FCC Chair made clear that the agency would enforce the Equal Time rule when candidate Trump went on SNL. NBC stations publicly filed Equal Opportunity notices to ensure that all other qualifying candidates could obtain Equal Time if they sought it. Stations did the same thing when Clinton appeared on SNL,” he explained.
Carr then explained that, with only three days — and zero “SNL” broadcasts remaining — before the election, NBC had “effectively structured” Harris’ appearance to make it impossible for the network to offer Trump anything even remotely comparable.
“What comparable time and placement can they offer all other qualifying candidates?” he asked.
In response to Harris’s 90-second SNL appearance, the 60-second Trump ad was aired twice on Sunday — first after a NASCAR race and again after Sunday Night Football. In the unorthodox ad, Trump simply stood in front of the camera and addressed “sports fans” by urging them to vote in the upcoming election.
“Hello to our great sports fans, and I hope you’re having a fantastic time,” Trump said. “We’re two days away from the most important election in the history of our country. We’ve got to save our country, and it needs saving. It’s in very bad shape. The worst economic numbers in generations were just announced two days ago. We’re losing jobs. We’re losing everything — including viability. We’re gonna end up in a depression based on what’s been happening. We’ve never seen anything like it, at least for the last 40 years. We have to straighten out our country; we have to close our borders; we have to lower our taxes; we have to get rid of inflation; and we’re going to do it. Just remember Kamala and her friends broke it. I’ll fix it. Most important election in the history of our country. Go and vote.”
A source confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the ads were run to comply with FCC rules.
It is no surprise that Harris will do whatever she needs to do to win, including all of her lies & deflections. THis country will elect Trump & Harris, Biden, can go away & stay away.