Why Kamala Harris & Donald Trump Won’t Appear on ‘SNL’ Anytime Soon | Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, NBC, Saturday Night Live, Television | Just Jared: Celebrity News and Gossip
Don’t expect to see Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump making cameo appearances on Saturday Night Live ahead of the 2024 election on November 5.
You may also recall seeing past candidates making appearances on the comedy variety series, but we’re explaining how this actually happened with today’s laws in place.
Keep reading to find out more…
Lorne Michaels told THR, “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.”
Here’s the definition of the equal time provision: “FCC rules seek 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. Equal opportunities generally means providing comparable time and placement to opposing candidates; it does not require a station to provide opposing candidates with programs identical to the initiating candidate.”
If you recall, before the 2016 election, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump appeared on the late night comedy show. This was before they both were named the Democratic and Republican nominees. Hillary Clinton‘s appearance was brief, appearing in a sketch on the show. Trump actually hosted in 2015, and NBC actually did count exactly how much air time he received – 12 minutes and five seconds — and offered the other Republican candidates the same amount of airtime in a primetime spot.
On SNL’s premiere, Kamala Harris was played by Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg played her husband, Doug Emhoff, Jim Gaffigan portrayed Tim Walz, Bowen Yang acted as JD Vance, and James Austin Johnson played Trump.
See photos of them in the gallery.
