New York GOP congressman Michael Waltz claimed NBC declined to show an advertisement attacking firms in the United States for sponsoring the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The advertisement, which Waltz shared on Twitter, directly identifies the firms supporting the Olympics. It also has a cameo appearance by Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom, well-known for his outspoken criticism of the Chinese government.
Controlling The Media
The NBC network refused to show Waltz’s Olympic ad with Freedom, unless the network censored business logos from Genocide Games sponsors from the United States.
Waltz posted on Saturday, “We are not going to allow them to silence us.” NBC called the Republican’s account of the events into question.
“Per NBC Universal’s long-standing advertising rules, adjustments to the advertisement were sought for it to broadcast,” an NBC Universal spokesman informed the Washington Examiner in a statement.
The advertising regulations of NBC Universal prohibit any submitted advertisements from explicitly targeting other organizations, including companies or nonprofit organizations.
According to the corporation, if Waltz agreed to remove the corporate logos from the advertisement, he could have resubmitted it.
NBC refused to air my Olympics ad with @EnesFreedom unless we censor U.S. corporate logos of the Genocide Games sponsors.
We won’t let them silence us.
Here’s the ad that NBC and the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t want you to see 👇 pic.twitter.com/0y35Z6KdZC
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) February 5, 2022
“NBC and the Chinese Communist Party do not want you to see this advertisement,” according to Waltz, who shared it via Twitter on Saturday.
As Waltz narrates in the commercial, “the world’s finest athletic display, but just beyond the show is rape, genocide, and slave labor.”
“American corporations are intoxicated by Chinese cash, linked with communist tyrants that perpetrate crimes, and complicit in these genocidal games conducted by the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.
“Standing for democracy and defunding dictatorships,” Kanter continues, before the couple issues a warning, “If you see ‘Made in China,’ put it down.”
Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Visa, Intel, Nike, and Airbnb are among the companies whose logos appear in the advertisement.
Except for Nike, all of the firms on this list are partners of the International Olympic Committee. Nike provided team USA’s outfits.
The Sins of China
Waltz has been vocal in his opposition to the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
“China behaves as if incarcerating millions of its residents based on their ethnicity and religious doctrine, or releasing a pandemic across the world, is standard behavior,” Waltz wrote in a February 2021 opinion piece for the Washington Examiner.
“Therefore, China must not be allowed to relish the riches of financial advantages and free advertising that come with staging the Olympic Games.”
Turkish-American basketball player Enes Kanter Freedom has launched a website to document threats to freedom around the world. There is a section on Turkey and a lot on China. Curious to see if anything Iran, Gulf or Israel/Palestine-related pops up. https://t.co/nmMEeJI6wL
— Adam Lucente (@Adam_Lucente) January 3, 2022
Freedom charged Nike with benefitting from Uyghur slave labor.
He demonstrated his opposition to the company by wearing shoes in October last year with the words “modern-day slavery,” “hypocrite Nike,” “no more excuses,” and “produced with slave labor” inscribed all over the soles.
Following a slew of rallies against Chinese authorities during the games, numerous senior U.S. officials warned athletes who participate in such demonstrations might face serious repercussions in a country that is infamous for clamping down on dissent.
