This past weekend saw Vice President Kamala Harris make a surprise appearance on the long-running NBC comedy show "Saturday Night Live."

However, that move has led critics to accuse the network of illegally colluding with Harris' campaign.

FCC commissioner slams "clear and blatant" violation of Equal Time rule

One of them is Republican Federal Communication Commission (FCC) member Brendan Carr, who previously served as the FCC's general counsel.

This is 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.… https://t.co/LliZF0po9t

— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 3, 2024

"This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC's Equal Time rule," Carr said of Harris' cameo in a social media post on Saturday.

"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," he explained.

Carr thus concluded that NBC violated the Equal Time rule unless it "offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns."

"Saturday Night Live" producer acknowledged Equal Time rule in interview

What's more, Breitbart contributor Joel Pollak noted that "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels alluded to the Equal Time rule during an interview in September with The Hollywood Reporter.

"You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions," Michaels acknowledged.

"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," he added.

Michaels further stressed that "Saturday Night Live" is "first and foremost a comedy show"  which isn't focused on "lecturing the audience."

Rule requires "comparable time and placement" for candidates

According to the FCC, its Equal Time rule 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."

The term "equal opportunities" is taken to mean outlets should offer "comparable time and placement to opposing candidates."

Nevertheless, "this does not require a station to provide opposing candidates with programs identical to the initiating candidate."