# Al Sharpton on SNL (not Cafe Society)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-sharpton-on-snl-not-cafe-society/211563>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 5, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-sharpton-on-snl-not-cafe-society/211563 "2003-11-05T16:05:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-sharpton-on-snl-not-cafe-society/211563/1 "2003-11-05T16:05:16Z")

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With Al Sharpton tapped to host Saturday Night Live in December, do the other presidential candidates become eligible for equal time? If so is their time based on Sharpton’s total time onscreen or is it based on the length of the program?

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-sharpton-on-snl-not-cafe-society/211563/2 "2003-11-05T16:55:45Z")

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All kinds of infotainment shows, mostly talk shows starting with the original _Donahue_, have been exempted from the equal time requirement. It’s not clear to me whether it would apply to SNL.

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**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-sharpton-on-snl-not-cafe-society/211563/3 "2003-11-05T18:27:16Z")

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Was the Schwarzenegger/Howard Stern/Jay Leno/etc. issue based on California law or Federal law?