NBC’s FCC dramala continues in the wake of Kamala Harris’ cameo on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live.
Following a public, preemptive complaint from a Trump-appointed FCC commissioner that a Harris SNL appearance would violate the agency’s equal time rule, NBC filed an equal time notice Sunday afternoon, and provided Donald Trump with two 60-second ad spots during their Sunday night broadcasts of NASCAR’s Xfinity 500 and a Colts-Vikings NFL game.
While news of Harris’ SNL appearance broke nearly four hours before the episode aired, Trump’s pretaped message came as a surprise to sports fans. The single ad, which aired once during each event, was presented as “a special message from President Donald J. Trump.”
Wearing a red MAGA hat and standing in front of multiple American flags, the GOP candidate delivered a nearly 150-word statement (over rather loud background music) encouraging his supporters to “go and vote” in “the most important election in the history of our country.”
The hastily-prepared ad included a number of Trumpian claims, such as, “The worst economic numbers in generations were just announced two days ago” and “We’re going to end up in a depression based on what’s been happening.”
NBC also filed an equal time notice in Virginia regarding Sen. Tim Kaine’s, D-Va., surprise appearance on Saturday night’s episode. Kaine is running for reelection against Republican Hung Cao. It wasn’t clear whether Cao, like Trump, had sought or received airtime from the network or its local affiliates in Virginia.
In theory, NBC and its affiliates are still on the hook to comply with equal time requests from third party Presidential candidates who might appear on the ballot in various states.
Kamala broke it