Former President Donald Trump aired a minute-long special message on NBC airwaves during the NFL’s coverage of Sunday Night Football, likely reaching far more viewers than Vice President Kamala Harris, who made a last-minute appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, the previous day.
Per the Federal Communications Commission’s Equal Time rule, NBC was not allowed to host Harris in this way while excluding Trump. In fact, as highlighted by The Daily Wire, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr blasted both NBC and Harris for the “clear and blatant” move to evade rules designed to stop networks from tilting the political scales ahead of an election.
Following the SNL stunt, Trump’s team was allowed time on NBC, per the Equal Time rule. “NBC has told the FCC that VP Harris appeared on Saturday Night Live for one minute and 30 seconds ‘without charge,’ triggering an opportunity for other campaigns to request time,” Alex Weprin reported.
NBC has filed a notice with the FCC, disclosing that Kamala Harris appeared on SNL for under two minutes without charge.
Under federal law, if Donald Trump requests equal time, NBC would be required to provide it before the election. pic.twitter.com/aMvHJjpwC2
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 4, 2024
In a major backfire, Trump was likely able to reach far more viewers than Harris since his message played toward the end of the NBC broadcast of NASCAR’s Xfinity 500 and the network’s coverage of the Minnesota Vikings-Indianapolis Colts NFL game.
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Sunday Night Football routinely garners more than 20 million viewers. SNL, by contrast, typically gets a fraction of that, with the show’s four-year-high ratings sitting at just 5 million viewers.
“The worst economic numbers in generations were just announced two days ago,” Trump said in his video message, referring to the latest dismal jobs report. “We’re losing jobs. We’re losing everything, including viability. We’re going to end up in a depression based on what’s been happening.”
“We’ve never seen anything like it, at least for the last 40 years,” the former president continued. “We have to straighten out our country, we have to close our borders, we have to lower our taxes, we have to get rid of inflation, and we’re going to do it.”
WATCH:
A Special Message from President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/B9Lcxaucud
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) November 3, 2024
Related: FCC Commissioner: Kamala’s SNL Appearance A ‘Blatant Effort To Evade’ Equal Time Rule