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Maya Rudolph and Democratic Presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris appear on NBC’s Saturday Night Live on November 2, 2024 in New York City. (Photo: Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)

NBC News filed an Equal Time notice with the Federal Communications Commission late Sunday. I expose Kamala Harris Appeared on “Saturday Night Live” After the network was accused of violating the long-standing rule.

“Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2024 national elections, made an unpaid appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) for a total of 1 minute and 30 seconds on November 2, 2024,” the statement said.

Under normal circumstances, the filing would have allowed all other qualified candidates running against Harris to request equal airtime from NBC for up to a week. NBC would be required to grant it under federal law.

The notice came after commissioner Brendan Carr, the FCC’s senior Republican, criticized NBC’s hosting decision. Harris in the last episode Despite the fact that SNL did not offer equal time to former President Trump or other candidates in the presidential cycle ahead of Election Day.

“This gives at least some semblance of leadership on NBC and SNL, and makes it clear that they want to weigh in on one candidate before the election. That’s exactly why we’ve had equal times for decades.” The rule in the book is to prevent this. Because remember, broadcasters have a special position of trust, they’re not like other people with a soapbox in the corner, they have a license from the federal government. Carr, the FCC commissioner, told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview Sunday morning.

Highlighting the limited time slot of Trump and others, Carr told Fox News Digital later Sunday that the network’s “Harris is making SNL’s appearance free of charge of its facilities and airwaves under the federal Equal Time rule.” He confirmed that he saw it as “usage”. In this case, the network must accept the offer.

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In normal Equal Time cases, “this generally opens a seven-day period in which all other qualified candidates may seek Equal Time from NBC, meaning comparable time on a comparable schedule. Here, opposing candidates do not have seven days.” in question.

The FCC commissioner told X this weekend that the streaming company violated the FCC’s equal time rule by hosting the Democratic presidential candidate, but not Trump or Jill Stein or even Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He evaluated that he did not host other presidential candidates such as. on the electoral ballot after dropping out of the race and supporting Trump earlier this year.

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

Trump campaign senior advisor Jason Miller told Fox News Channel this weekend that SNL did not extend an invitation to Trump. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung criticized Harris’ appearance as a sign of desperation to appeal to voters because “her campaign is heading into obscurity.”

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

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Carr told Fox News Digital that NBC also submitted an Equal Time notice for Kaine’s involvement. Kaine is running for reelection in Virginia against Republican challenger Hung Cao.

NBC News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report. Read the rest of this story here: FOX News.