Below is my column in USA Today on the controversy at NBC after Vice President Kamala Harris was given a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live just days before the election. It was the latest push by media companies to put a thumb on the scale of the election.
Here is the column:
Will Rogers said, “Everything is funny as long as it’s happening to somebody else.”
Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign can attest to the truism after the vice president appeared on “Saturday Night Live” three days before the presidential election.
Make no mistake, there is nothing funny about an apparent violation of federal law by NBC and “SNL.”
With Harris and Trump locked in a close race, the appearance was a bonanza for the campaign. It also was presumptively unlawful.
Lorne Michaels said candidates wouldn’t appear on SNL
A month ago, The Hollywood Reporter quoted “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels saying it was implausible that either Trump or Harris would appear on the show given the clear federal rules: “You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions. 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.”
The “SNL” cast and crew appeared to take the opposite meaning from Michaels’ warning. They decided to broadcast a virtual campaign commercial for Harris and later ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
The skit was hardly subtle in jettisoning comedy for sycophancy. Former “SNL” cast member Maya Rudolph, impersonating Harris, said she wished she “could talk to someone who’s been in my shoes. You know, a Black, South Asian woman running for president. Preferably from the Bay Area.”
Harris responded, “You and me both, sister.”
“SNL” used a faux comedic skit to echo the Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign themes. Harris assured her doppelgänger, “I’m just here to remind you, you got this. Because you can do something your opponent cannot do. You can open doors.”
Rudolph even mouthed the campaign theme for Harris, declaring, “The American people want to stop the chaos and end the drama-la.” Both then espoused their “belief in the promise of America.”
NBC lawyers were clearly among the viewers who were not laughing Saturday night.
On Sunday, Trump was given a chance to speak on NBC after a NASCAR race.
FCC’s rules try to ensure equal time for candidates
Since 1934, the Federal Communications Commission’s equal-time rule has required radio and television broadcast stations to give competing political candidates the same amount of time.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican, denounced NBC’s move as a premeditated and gross violation of the equal-time regulation. He said that the federal rules were designed for this very purpose, and that NBC discarded the rules to trawl for undecided voters for Harris, particularly young voters who have been a challenge for the vice president.
“NBC has structured this in a way that’s plainly designed to evade the FCC’s rules,” Carr told Fox News on Sunday. “We’re talking 50 hours before Election Day starts, without any notice to other candidates, as far as I can tell.”
The Trump campaign has confirmed that an offer was not extended to appear.
“SNL” discarded any semblance of restraint and also featured Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who is in a race with Republican challenger Hung Cao.
“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,” Carr tweeted Saturday night.
So the producers of “SNL” were not only warned by its creator as the new season began but also were warned by the FCC in 2016. They decided to ignore the warnings.
On Sunday, NBC seemed to acknowledge the violation by filing an FCC notice under the equal-time provision acknowledging that it gave free exposure to Harris and Kaine − only days before voters went to the polls.
The true joke is on the public. With virtually all the news media supporting her, Harris has fielded a united front of celebrities from Hollywood to New York. By claiming that democracy is about to die, violations of FCC rules likely seem a trivial concern.
To save democracy, there is little time for legal niceties.
Indeed, some Democrats appear to be morphing into the very people they are vilifying. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., appeared on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday to declare that Democrats will accept the result of a Trump victory only if they believe it is a “free and fair election.”
Trump was widely criticized for the same position when he said, “If everything’s honest, I will gladly accept the results.”
On Maher’s show, Raskin said, “We’re not going to allow them to steal it in the states, or steal it in the Department of Justice, or steal it with any other election official in the country.”
Whether on “SNL” or “Real Time,” it is always funnier if it happens to someone else.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
WTH is up with these yocal governments running around kidnapping pets and killing them!?!
https://nypost.com/2024/11/05/us-news/calif-girl-wins-300k-settlement-from-police-who-seized-slaughtered-goat/
Hey David Benson, I know its past lights out at your nursing home, but how’s that prediction you made looking now, ya senile old fool?
Where is Dennis McInliar?
I wonder if Trump will break his own record for crowd size at his inauguration.
Georgia goes to Trump!
Hey Dennis, are you still up? I’m sure you and your “wife” are hosting a watch party for both of your friends.
Why is it that the blue strongholds are always the last to report?
Counting? My ass. Fill out a ballot, stick it in the fvcking machine. Done.
Tears are flowing at the watch party.
Strange…where are all the late night big mouth libturds???
The Senate is RED! And they’re not done.
Its not Sheehy that put us over the top, but Nebraska!!!
Bwahahahahahaha you libturds are getting yours sorry asses handed to you on a platter.
Start you’re crying now, Dennis!
Wow those Iowan women really hated in Trump LMAO
That POS poll was only 22 points off.
Beahahahaha and some of you libturds believed it.
Milwaukee what a joke.
The bottom line here is my favorite scenario. Trump wins New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania can take three months to count their stupid votes because it won’t matter.
This is how stupid libturds are.
70% say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
54% say Government should do more.
Cant make this shit up .
No words. There are no words remaining for the modern left, they are a shell. They care for nothing but holding onto power, profit – they are 1000% what they accuse their opposition of being. I will not vote for 21st century feudalism. And I DIDN’T. Let tha be written in stone for all of us.
Soros and his ilk can go to h***, we are not that stupid or easily influenced no matter how much money they spend or how many celebrities they have in their pocket that care more about their bank accounts and clout than they do about their fellow country people, and I will defend our 1A and 2A with my very life. Heaven help us today, and in the intervening time.
People watching this like TV need to wait. We will NOT have a decision today. Or tomorrow. What follows when we do, will be epoch defining. I hope most of us chose wisely.
* SNL IS a crime. It’s criminal to think any of it is comedy. Try getting some actual funny people with a tad of charisma and some actual comedy writers.
Crime
I’m surprised anyone still watches that. Hasn’t been worth the electricity since Chevy Chase left.
* Open doors, she says? She means star gates.
Jonathan: When it comes to trying to “put a thumb on the scale of the election” you should be discussing what is happening in GOP states this election. The AP had a headline story yesterday: “Some Republican-led states refuse to let Justice Department monitors into polling places”. And what is happening in these states is definitely not a “laughing matter”.
For decades DOJ monitors have gone to many voting districts to ensure compliance with voting laws and to prevent discrimination against Black and other minority voters. Never been a problem until this year. This year the DOJ announced it was deploying election monitors in 86 jurisdictions across 27 states. Now Florida, Texas and Missouri, states controlled by MAGA Republicans, say they won’t permit DOJ monitors inside their polling places. Both Texas and Missouri have filed lawsuits to prevent that.
DJT knows that this year his own chance of winning is to try to sabotage the vote and how elections are conducted. He is already claiming “election fraud” if Harris wins. And his allies in Florida, Texas and Missouri are doing their part by trying to prevent the DOJ monitors from observing what is going on in the polling places in their states. Kind of ironic since DJT has deployed hundreds of his own polling “watchers”–trying to intimidate voters. Makes you wonder what Florida, Texas and Missouri are afraid that DOJ monitors might find.
They might find truck loads of fake ballots like last time and then stand there watching as their all counted.
That is such a load of crap. Try another line.
Baghdad Bob McIntyre posted: >i>DJT knows that this year his own chance of winning is to try to sabotage the vote and how elections are conducted.
Looking at Trump’s acceptance speech at midnight, Montana time, Dennis. While The Kackleho hides from public view like you do:
Right now: 266 versus 219 for the Kackleho. She’s 25+ behind on the electoral college vote, Dennis.
I eagerly await Dennis’s Daily Duece from you tomorrow, Dennis.
Baghdad Bob McIntyre posted: DJT knows that this year his own chance of winning is to try to sabotage the vote and how elections are conducted.
“His own chance”? You’re referencing what is the crushing defeat of the Soviet Democrat-Marxist Mainstream Media Political Complex?
Clearly Dennis, you along with Gigi and George simply didn’t lie hard enough, often enough, and persuasive enough to get your Vice President DEI Hire even close to the finish line.
What will be in the next Dennis’s Daily Deuce? Fingerpointing and blaming?
Or are you and Gigi racing to pack your bags and find an affordable country without an extradition treaty with the USA before President Trump 2.0 sends soldiers to arrest you and throw you in FEMA camps for life?
The Gallop poll on the greatest election issues contradicts the Harris/Biden/Obama lie that Presidents have the power to pass abortion laws. The Bidenomics economy is the lead issue, followed by the Guest Democrat Illegal Aliens “migration” issue. The Democrat version of whether states or presidents are empowered to make abortion law is a distant third – and only with confirmed Democrat voters.
As the execrable misogynist and Democrat stratagist of lies, James Carville, used to say (while covering Bill Clinton’s serial attacks on women) “It’s the economy, stupid”.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — More U.S. registered voters name the economy than any other issue as the most important factor determining which candidate they are supporting in this year’s presidential election. Immigration ranks behind the economy as the top factor influencing their presidential vote choice.
For their part, only 16% of Democratic voters most often name abortion and the preservation of democracy (14%) as the top issues driving their vote. Both of these issues are cited by just under one in 10 voters overall.
You have to be a gullible idiot woman or beta male to believe the Harris/Biden/Democrat lies that ANY president can make federal laws regulating abortion after the Dobbs decision.
But that’s the voter class that the Soviet Democrat-Marxist Media Propagandist Complex targets with the Kackala election campaign.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/652970/economy-immigration-abortion-democracy-driving-voters.aspx
* Most people have figured out women can use birth control and not abortion. The other option for most people is abstinence. The third option is marriage.
Abortion isn’t on the list at all except in the life of the mother, the result of a crime and then it’s the crime as primary. 4th, at least find out his name and address so the public isn’t required to foot the bill …
So much for that . ..
* caveat- just say you were raped and he wore a balaclava…
* That option is called –> the E Jean Carroll.
Everyone believed Trump couldn’t restrain himself. She was ravishing at 60.
I’m going to explain this to you one more time, Tom: what Trump did to E. Jean Carroll had nothing to do with her attractiveness or lack there of or his ability or inability to restrain himself. He assaulted her because he perceived she was attacking his manliness by suggesting that he try on lingerie. She was a staff writer at SNL at the time, and had written a script for a skit involving a man trying on womens’ lingerie. Trump did it to show her who’s boss–it was another manifestation of his serious mental illness, his massive ego, his thin skin, and personal insecurities.
Lmao trump has a super model wife and back then could have any woman he wanted he would never touch that dog woof woof bow wow woof woof
Pay for it THEMSELVES!?! That’s just not the Marxist way.
Dear anonymous: does that apply to the Ohio girl who was raped by her mother’s boyfriend at age 9. shortly before her 10th birthday, and who had to travel to Indiana for a medication abortion? Of course, fat-faced Republican Todd Rokita, Indiana Attorney General, went after the physician who treated her, trying to get her medical license, claiming the physician violated the child’s privacy rights by generally reporting that a 10 year old rape victim came to Indiana for treatment because Ohio left her without any options. Rokita ended up with a disciplinary complaint for publicly discussing pending licensure matters against a physician, which is a violation of Indiana law.
So, all fourth grade girls, like this child, should be on birth control? Do you think that birth control pills were tested on 9 and 10 year olds to determine whether it is safe for use in children of this age? OK, so what happens when birth control fails, or if you are someone who cannot take birth control pills or use an IUD for medical reasons? What does “marriage” have to do with abortion?
Here’s what polls show about what “most people” believe–that the government should not dictate womens’ reproductive decisions prior to the age of fetal viability, and after that, that physicians treating problem pregnancies should have the professional freedom to take necessary measures to treat their patient without the risk of being criminally charged or losing their medical license.
Completely made up fake news. Even SNOPES could not verify it.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-cited-story-10-year-old-ohio-rape-victim-needing-abortion-still-not-verified-fact-checkers
The more important point is; that it was net another illegal alien invited across our border without vetting who raped the girl.
Dear Gigi who needs elective birth control abortions right up to the moment of birth to fix your Anonymous Tinder dates gone wrong: Dear anonymous: does that apply to the Ohio girl who was raped by her mother’s boyfriend at age 9
Why are you attempting to campaign on false narratives and a cringeworthy belief that ANY president can successfully pass a federal law that forces every single state to give you your Harris Special taxpayer funded elective birth control abortions right up to the moment the doctor cuts the umbilical cord after birth?
Of course, fat-faced Republican Todd Rokita…
Meanwhile, your smelly fat ho skanky ass has never even bothered to read the Dobbs decision that says the federal government cannot make abortion laws – only your state government can.
Your skanky
SNL is just like The View: an emotional support animal for the Woke Marxist Useful Idiots who, like SNL, also defend and vote for these Soviet Democrats.
SNL at best is functioning as a “get out the Kakala Soviet Democrat vote” mechanism at this point. They aren’t changing anyone’s voting decision, and I doubt that many conservatives/Republicans go to watch SNL to be offended like Dennis, George, and Gigi come here daily to be offended by Professor Turley’s columns.
I’m not too interested in the nuances of whether SNL violated FCC law, or whether famed legal analysts Curious George and Baghdad Bob McIntyre are triggered to attack their host, Professor Turley, in response to his column.
Kakala’s SNL appearance was exactly what it looked like: SNL as an open supporter and defender of the Soviet Democrats and their policy, going back to their hands-off handling of the eight years of the Obama/Biden presidency while Harvey Weinstein was their most famous open door policy White House guest visiting them to spend time with their daughters. No surprises there, and certainly no SNL parodies or jokes to be found.
What will be more interesting is whether this election will be won/lost on whether there are enough brain dead women and feeble beta males like Tim Walz and Kakala’s husband who will vote on Soviet Democrat lies that elective birth control abortions are a federal issue, versus a strictly state issue after the Dobbs decision? I can’t remember if Professor Turley wrote a column on that as it seems to be the other half of the Kakala election campaign.
Will women and beta males vote on the belief in the Bribery Biden/Kakala lie that Trump has vowed to pass a federal law banning all elective birth control abortions? It’s nowhere in his campaign promises and Trump has said the opposite, but that’s still not enough.
Or will they vote in response to Kakala’s promise to pass a federal law forcing all states to allow elective birth control abortions up to the moment the umbilical cord is cut? No gestational period limits – numerous states already have that, but it’s still not enough.
SCOTUS has clearly told all Americans, whether they agree with elective birth control abortions or not, that the federal government cannot confiscate the right of the individual states to pass their own laws concerning abortions. Just like they do their Concealed Carry laws.
BTW, why is it the communists like Obama, Biden, Harris et al gloat that the Second Amendment is left up to each state to regulate where and how Americans can exercise their Second Amendment rights – but drop their guts in an unending Midol Moment that SCOTUS told them that states get to make abortion rights, not the federal government attempting to create an Abortion Right.
If a soldier assumes the valor of the “Airborne,” that soldier should substantiate his claim with a presentation of his MOS, AWARDS, THEATER, AND CAMPAIGN.
That soldier should not be overcome by fear in the face of the enemy and be afraid to do so.
Like Timpon Waltz braving the terrors of Italy while his unit was shipped off to a combat zone.
The notice that his unit would be deployed overseas came long AFTER he turned in his retirement papers. This is just another MAGA media lie.
Why do Anonymous Airsoft Commando Gravy Seal Snipers who claim they never lost an Airsoft battle waged in their mommy’s back yard get so obsessed with military words when anybody posts condemnation of Kackles and Tampon Tim?
Particularly when there’s no references to military matters to trigger their Mangina Midol Moment insinuations?
Is that you, cut like a marshmallow gun bunny?
https://www.airsoftsociety.com/threads/airsoft-memes.95020/page-20#lg=thread-95020&slide=2
Looks like this post has touched some nerves…. political nerves that is. Good – glad to see you all are watching. Also interesting that the political factions align with the broadcast new NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox. Fun (not) to watch the tantrums, but it comes with the game. You could engage ongoing official referees to manage the hair pulling and eye gouging.
Why wouldn’t NBC do that? There are no consequences. The only fair solution, in anything but a decisive Trump victory, will be a mulligan – at NBC’s expense. Resolve the lawfare, obey the rules, fix the “glitches” (eyeroll), and have an actual free and fair election.