Kamala Harris' cameo on SNL may have violated fairness rules

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Kamala Harris' appearance on Saturday Night Live, just days before America's vote, may have been a violation of election rules.

The vice president poked fun at Donald Trump as she made the surprise appearance on the comedy show this weekend as the rivals entered the final phase of their White House campaign.

Harris, who was played by Maya Rudolph on the comedy show's 50th season, appeared in a skit with the actress after she flew to New York City en route to her campaign in Michigan.

Now a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, a government agency that regulates radio and television in the United States, says the appearance may have violated the “equal time” rule.

The criticism came from Brendan Carr, a Republican who was nominated by both Donald Trump and Joe Biden to the FCC's five-member commission.

He wrote on Elon Musk's X that the SNL cold open was “a clear and blatant attempt to circumvent the FCC's equal time rule.”

“The purpose of the rule is to prevent exactly this type of biased and partisan behavior – a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert influence on behalf of a candidate on the eve of an election,” he explained. “Unless the broadcaster offers equal time for other qualifying campaigns.”

Harris' appearance was, like in October, a surprise, said show creator Lorne Michaels The Hollywood Reporter that SNL has not approached any contestants and has no plans to do so.

“Because of the election laws and the concurrent rules, you can't bring the actual candidates,” Michaels said of the FCC's concurrent candidates rules.

“You can’t have the major candidates without having all the candidates, and there are a lot of minor candidates who are only on the ballot in about three states, and that gets really complicated.”

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told the Associated Press on Saturday he was surprised Harris would appear on the show, which he said was unflattering to her.

Asked if Trump had been invited to SNL, he told AP: “I don’t know. Probably not.”

It's not the first time that high-profile political guests have made cameo appearances on the show.

In 2007, President Barack Obama, then a candidate, appeared on the show, initially hidden under a Halloween mask. Hillary Clinton, also a candidate that year, also made a cameo appearance.

Sarah Palin, who ran for vice president on John McCain's ticket, appeared weeks before the election.

Donald Trump hosted the show in 2015 as a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2016 election, which he subsequently won.