NBC announced Sunday that the network had given Donald Trump equal time with Kamala Harris’ surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live by giving him the opportunity to address voters directly after a Nascar race.

A U.S. government communications watchdog had claimed that Harris’ surprise appearance on the comedy show violated the “simultaneous” rules that apply to political broadcasts. Brendan Carr, a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called Harris’ appearance “a clear and blatant attempt to circumvent the FCC’s equal time rule.”

Carr made the claim in response to an Associated Press alert that Harris was on the show that night.

“The purpose of the regulation 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. Unless the network offered the same time to other qualifying campaigns,” said Carr, who was nominated by both Trump and Biden and confirmed unanimously by the Senate three times.

The FCC guidelines state: “Equal opportunity generally means offering opposing candidates comparable time and placement; It is not necessary for a station to offer opposing candidates programs identical to those of the initiating candidate.”

An FCC spokesperson issued a statement: “The FCC has not made a decision regarding the political programming rules, nor have we received a complaint from interested parties.”

The “equal time” rule requires U.S. television and radio networks to provide equal access to competing political candidates. This requirement does not extend to cable television channels such as Fox News, nor does it apply to content such as social media or podcasts.

“Equal time” is often associated with the Fairness Doctrine, a federal policy abolished in 1987 that required broadcasters to cover issues of public interest by presenting opposing views.

Harris joined comedian Maya Rudolph at the start of the show in a skit that skewered Donald Trump for his recent rally speeches, including wearing an orange and yellow safety jacket, making a reference to the ongoing trash controversy and pretending to chop down a broken microphone.

Harris began her “Mirror Image” sketch opposite Rudolph, the SNL cast member chosen to impersonate her, on the other side of a mirror.

“I’m just here to remind you, get this, because you can do something your opponent can’t do – you can open doors,” Harris told Rudolph, seemingly referring to a video from Earlier in the week, Trump struggled to reach the handle of a garbage truck he was briefly riding in to a rally in Wisconsin.

This came after a comedian made a joke about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of trash” at a Trump rally in New York that was widely viewed as racist. Trump disavowed the comedian but did not apologize.

In a video call to Latino voters, President Biden appeared to call Trump supporters trash. The White House later disputed this and released a transcript that changed “supporter” to “supporter,” changing the meaning. White House stenographers appealed the change.

“The American people want to stop the chaos,” Rudolph said in the SNL sketch, with Harris adding, “And stop the drama.”

“With a cool new stepmom. Get back in our pajama laser. And watch a romantic comedy,” Rudolph said, as the two later touted their “belief in the promise of America.”

Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of SNL, which is celebrating its 50th season on NBC, told The Hollywood Reporter in September that neither Harris nor Trump himself would appear on the show.

“Because of election laws and equal opportunity regulations, you can’t bring the actual candidates,” Michaels told the outlet.

“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.”

In the interview, Michaels said Republicans were easier to characterize than Democrats as being offended by certain skits.

“It’s not personal in the sense of an attack, it’s just that you said and did that. So did you think it would be rude if we commented on this? This is what we do and we will do it again,” he said.

The Trump campaign complained about Harris’ performance, saying Harris “has nothing of substance to offer the American people, so she is living out her distorted fantasy by playing on Saturday Night Leftists with her elite friends while her campaign is going south.” and fades into obscurity,” a spokesperson Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.

CNN media analyst Brian Stelter reported Sunday that the NBC networks gave Trump equal time as part of FCC requirements. “During tonight’s NASCAR post-race show, a direct-to-camera plea from Trump was broadcast to ‘go vote,'” Stelter noted.

“We are just two days away from the most important election in our country’s history,” Trump told the public in an address in which he also made wild claims. Sensational statements included the comment: “Because of what happened, we are going to go into a depression.”

Some viewers also noted that Harris’ “Mirror Image” comedy sketch was conceptually identical to a sketch Trump appeared in with former SNL comedian Jimmy Fallon on Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” in 2015. “I knew the SNL sketch with Kamala Harris looked familiar…” radio host Ari Hoffman said in an Instagram post that linked to the Fallon Trump sketch.