Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend, drawing laughs from many but complaints from MAGA’s most powerful member.
Billionaire SkyLink founder Elon Musk used his social media platform X to complain about who wasn’t invited to appear on the iconic satirical program.
“It is unfair, even if SNL did so unintentionally, given that NBC is allowed to use public airwaves for free,” Musk posted right after the vice president joined her mimic, Maya Rudolph, onstage for a repeat of one of the show’s staples, a mirror/mirror skit featuring a famous person gazing at impersonator in the reflection. (In 2015, Donald Trump appeared in the same skit with Jimmy Fallon.)
But the Republican nominee, fresh from simulating fellatio with a microphone in Milwaukee the night before, wasn’t invited back for another round this year.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee and a potentially lucrative ally to SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk. Politico reports that the newly forged, albeit unusual relationship between Carr and Musk “could help funnel billions of dollars” to Musk’s company if Trump is elected.
“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” Carr posted on X. “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.”
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… pic.twitter.com/CZkaeGyRhL
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 3, 2024
Carr later appeared on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” warning of FCC retribution.
“I think every single option needs to be on the table for the FCC because we not only need to respond to this if it turns out to be as clear a violation as it looks like, but it sends a message to deter anybody from doing this again, whether it’s to benefit a Republican or a Democrat,” he said.
The FCC’s Equal Time Rule, passed in 1934, seeks “to ensure that no legally qualified candidate for office is unfairly given less access to the airwaves – outside of bona fide news exemptions – than their opponent.”
NBC buckled, and on Sunday Trump was offered free air time — one minute, 30 seconds, to be exact — to address viewers watching the network’s NASCAR 2024 Cup playoff race coverage.
It’s pretty clear NBC had no choice. A recent quote from SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels was damning.
“You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,” he told “The Hollywood Reporter,” and then clarified: “You can’t have the main candidates without having all the candidates, and there are lots of minor candidates that are only on the ballot in, like, three states and that becomes really complicated.”
But there was no Jill Stein or Cornel West cameos, either. Harris was the only candidate to appear on “SNL.”
Trump last appeared on the show in 2015. Former “SNL” writer Michael Schur later noted that the invite was “a critical error.”
Meanwhile, many on social media were struck by the synergy between Elon’s complaint and FCC action.
“it doesn’t take Trump being elected for Elon Musk to exert agency control over regulators,” noted one commenter on X. Here’s FCC commissioner Brendan Carr taking a moment to snap a pic with his pal when Carr is not endlessly tweeting about Starlink’s rural internet award being revoked.”
it doesn’t take Trump being elected for Elon Musk to exert agency control over regulators. Here’s FCC commissioner Brendan Carr taking a moment to snap a pic with his pal when Carr is not endlessly tweeting about Starlink’s rural internet award being revoked. pic.twitter.com/FteKfMn1Bh
— Jimmy Trillstein (@JimmyTrillstein) November 3, 2024
Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh was even more blunt in response to Elon’s post about Harris’ came being “unfair.”
“Yes, almost as unfair as the owner of a social media platform using that platform to spread disinformation and to actively support one of the two presidential candidates,” Walsh wrote. “It’s a free country@elonmusk. Quit whining.”
