FCC commissioner blasts Kamala Harris' appearance on 'SNL'

Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Brendan Carr, the senior Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, has criticized Kamala Harris' appearance on the final Saturday Night Live episode ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Carr, writing on social media, called Harris' appearance on the sketch comedy show 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," Carr wrote.

"Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns."

Carr further noted that, under former President Barack Obama, the FCC had made it clear that it would enforce the Equal Time rule when then-candidate Trump appeared on SNL.

"NBC stations publicly filed Equal Opportunity notices to ensure that all other qualifying candidates could obtain Equal Time if they sought it," Carr said. "Stations did the same thing when [Hillary] Clinton appeared on SNL."

But with only days before the election, Carr said that NBC appears to have structured Harris' appearance on the sketch comedy show "in a way that evades" requirements that broadcasters provide comparable time and placement to all legally qualified candidates.

This weekend's edition of SNL featured a sketch of Maya Rudolph playing Harris and worrying about the popularity of her Republican opponent Donald Trump, played by James Austin Johnson.

Jim Gaffigan played her running mate Tim Walz, Andy Samberg played her husband Doug Emhoff and Dana Carvey played President Joe Biden.

It was after Rudolph's version of Harris turned off the television and ushered her supporters out of the room that she sat down at a mirror and saw the real Harris as her reflection.

"I'm just here to remind you that you've got this because you can do something your opponent cannot do -- you can open doors," the real Harris said, to which Rudolph replied with a laugh: "I see what you did there. Like to a garbage truck, right?"

"I don't really laugh like that, do I?" the real Harris wanted to know.

"A little bit," Rudolph replied. "Now, Kamala, tale my palmala. The American people want to stop the chaos."

"And end the dramala," the real Harris added.

They both chimed in together, "Keep calm and carry on-a-la."