Nice.
This one is easy. Ethics Alarms has been stating (and showing) repeatedly that the Democrats cheat—to save democracy, of course, so it’s okay—and on Saturday the Harris campaign cheated flagrantly and openly. To do it, they needed help from the Democrat-biased media (again) and even though it knew this meant breaking the law, NBC went ahead and did it anyway.
Harris was a surprise guest on “Saturday Night Live, doing a sketch with Harris imitator Maya Rudolph, who later gushed about how she was a fan. This was a clear violation of the FCC’s Equal Time rule: broadcasters must offer candidates seeking the same political office comparable time and placement, Section 315 of the Communications Act states. That prohibits a licensed broadcaster from using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate over another.
I thought it was a breach of the law the second I heard that Harris was going to appear, and FCC commissioner Brendon Carr protested almost immediately after the show aired. SNL and NBC had to offer the other candidates—not just Trump but Jill Stein and others—the same opportunity they gave to Harris. They didn’t.
But the beauty part, see, is that Harris and NBC knew it would be too late to do anything about their cheat, since the election is just about here and there are no other Saturdays to allow Trump to have his shot. Perfect!
NBC News filed an Equal Time notice with the Federal Communications Commission late Sunday disclosing Kamala Harris’ appearance on “Saturday Night Live”.” ” after the fact. This was an admission that they (and Harris) violated the regulation. It wasn’t an accident by either of them.
“You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and equal time provisions,” SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels told The Hollywood Reporter in September. “You can’t have the main candidates without having all the other candidates, and there are lots of minor candidates that are only on the ballot in, like, three states and that becomes really complicated.” Ah, but that was before Harris’s briefly flourishing campaign began losing ground because, after all, she’s a lying, shallow phony who stole the nomination and can’t answer a direct question without a script. What to do? Oh, right…cheat!
I’m sure President Harris will find some way to pay back NBC, which will have to pay a fine. The significance of the episode is that it again showed the enthusiasm the mainstream media has for putting its fist on the metaphorical scales to help Democrats, and the “ends justify the means” mindset of Harris and her party. Within the span of just a few days, we saw the White House break the law by altering an official transcript so someone might believe that Biden didn’t call Trump supporters “garbage,” fake news reports that Trump had called for Liz Cheney’s execution, and now this.
Oh yeah, we can trust the fate of our nation with this crowd.
I have to say, though, it you’re going to cheat, you might as well cheat when it counts. SNL has become almost as shrill a partisan hackery act as Colbert and Maher: is there anyone who was considering voting for Trump who a) would watch SNL or b) would change their vote because she was endorsed on it?
That’s not the point, though. The next time you read that Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” was “baseless”—that’s the word the Axis memo used—remember Saturday Night Live. The desperate Democrats cheated because they could, they knew they would get away with it, and NBC broke the law to help them.
Nice.
Ethics Alarms 
Here’s hoping this is another sign of internal poll driven despiration that things are not looking for Harris. They reportedly pulled senile Joe from any further supporting duties after his “garbage” content. Now he appears to be a loose cannon on the bad ship DNC: https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/11/02/biden-commits-gaffe-of-the-century-and-kamala-harris-has-to-be-melting-down-n2181437
Perhaps they’ll try to explain this away as due to a missing ampersand.
To me Kamala going on the completely safe SNL, an outlet that anymore caters only to a slice of overwhelmingly DNC loyalists, also implies she’s actually desperately trying to shore up a wavering demographic.
But again- I think we’re all being massively gaslit and we’re in for a rude awakening Wednesday morning. Or whatever morning after our modern technologically advanced democracy finally finishes “counting” the votes.
I understand the cynicism and suspicion, but everything, or almost, points to a decisive Trump win that would require a criminal level of interference to cancel. Trump is almost too upbeat and confident, and the Left’s desperation is flop-sweat over-the-top. I have to believe that both campaigns see the same writing on the wall
Left out “up” 😦
Oh, and “desperation” …. sheesh
Looks like NBC is scrambling to avoid that fine.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/nbc-gives-donald-trump-campaign-022403166.html
Don’t you just love the following statement?:
“However the sketch drew a rebuke from FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, who is seen as a potential FCC chair if President Trump is re-elected.”
Nothing like casting aspersions on the commissioner’s motives after admitting the complaint was legitimate.
I’m a potential FCC chair if President Trump is re-elected.
I’m very familiar with the Federal Communications Commission, for reasons independent of how the host of this blog knows me. There’s nothing nefarious about the reference to Brendan Carr being the potential FCC chairman depending on the election outcome. This exact scenario played out after the 2000 presidential election. One of the sitting minority commissioners was Michael Powell, who despite being a conservative Republican (indeed notably more conservative than his father, Colin Powell) was technically a Clinton appointee. After George W. Bush took office, he elevated Michael Powell to chairman. It’s the type of independent federal agency that has to have both Republicans and Democrats on its board, with the president simply having the ability to shift which has the majority of commissioners and which of the commissioners is chairman – or “chair” in the current lexicon. I hope this helps.
Please leave.
It looks like Trump complained and got equal time on a NASCAR race
That’s even more useless than Harris appearing on SNL…
Indeed. And hardly the same footing. The FCC doesn’t require the exact same type of coverage, but it’s an ethical fail, nonetheless. SNL featured VP Harris prominently on the show and in a manner that had Rudolph gushing over her. Trump’s ad appeared after the NASCAR race and, later, after Sunday Night Football (but before the broadcasts ended). Giving one candidate airtime when you know most viewers are watching and another candidate airtime when viewers are probably hitting the bathroom is the Compliance Dodge. They just want to be able to say they followed the rules when we all know the Equal Time was not equal.
And, of course, they don’t care what Jill Stein, RFK, Jr or anyone else still on ballots thinks.
AM
I don’t think her appearance moved the needle one bit nor do I think Trump’s ad on a NASCAR broadcast did much either. The respective audiences probably have their minds made up by now. I would say however if the candidates had opportunities to appear where the other candidate appeared, I believe Trump might have changed a true independent mind or two. That however depends on the skit of course.
Oh, I won’t argue that it changed minds. I am only pointing out that NBC deliberately broke the law and is trying to cover up for it by giving the appearance of equal time to Trump that is not nearly comparable in range to what it gave Harris. Of course, it is also counting on The Hollywood Reporter and other media sources to challenge the objectivity of the FCC commissioner by casting him as a Trump appointee who would benefit from a potential President Trump while ignoring how NBC could possibly benefit from a presumptive-President Harris.
It’s just the same old double-standard and poisoning the well we’ve seen for years.
Perhaps, but it makes the news and showcases the efforts necessary to willingness to try to cheat. Trump doing nothing would be seen as a sign of weakness. He also signaled to NBC he knows what they did.
SNL’s ratings as of October 19, 2024: Saturday Night Live (SNL) Ratings on NBC
4,780,000 viewers yielding a 1.51 rating. 952,000 viewers in the 18 to 49 demographic yielding a 0.71 rating.
Interesting it’s so unwatched by young people.
And then, how many likely Republican voters have watched SNL since, oh, say, 1985?
I’d say virtually none, though that would probably apply to Democrats, too, considering that the show hasn’t been funny for well over 40 years, with a few outliers.
jvb
Si.
A) The law probably needs some updating. The fact they can’t bring the only viable candidates on when no one else is polling above 1% is actually kind of ludicrous.
B) The consequence here will never effect behavior if the consequence is limited to a monetary penalty. NBC and Candidates will find the money anywhere they want to find it to pay any fine of any amount. Even if NBC doesn’t have the money, some George Soros type will step in through a Super PAC and pay it.
C) Who should be penalized? It’s the network’s responsibility to ensure equal time. It’s the Democrats who benefited from cheating. These shenanigans can be found in the actual election process too.