A campaign advertisement featuring a courtroom video of an illegal immigrant from Mexico, who was convicted of killing two police officers in 2014, was pulled from the air by Fox News and NBC, while Facebook removed it on Monday.
The 30-second ad was sponsored by president Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign and had debuted online last week. CNN had rejected the campaign ad, saying that it was racist.
Read more: Opinion: US midterms — a battle over principle, not facts
In the clip, twice-deported immigrant Luis Bracamontes is seen smiling in a court and saying, "I will break out soon and I will kill more." The original version of the ad had falsely stated that "Democrats let him into our country," but this reference was later removed.
The clip also featured images of masses of people shaking a fence, apparently trying to bring it down, and added the tagline, "Trump and Republicans are making America safe again."
The ad was shared by President Trump when it became available online, on October 31.
It is outrageous what the Democrats are doing to our Country. Vote Republican now! https://t.co/0pWiwCHGbh pic.twitter.com/2crea9HF7G
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2018
Ad played during NFL game
A wave of criticism seems to have prompted NBC to pull the racist ad. "After further review we recognize the insensitive nature of the ad and have decided to cease airing it across our properties as soon as possible," NBC Universal said in a statement.
But by then, the video had already been seen by a considerable amount of people. NBC had aired it on the "Sunday Night Football" game between the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers, which drew the highest overnight ratings of the franchise's history.
Marianne Gambelli, Fox News' president of advertising sales, confirmed that the commercial was pulled on Sunday "upon further review," but did not say how many times it had aired on either Fox News Channel or the Fox Business Network.
'A lot of things are offensive'
Reporters confronted Trump about the ad as he was headed to a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio. "You're telling me something I don't know about. We have a lot of ads, and they certainly are effective based on the numbers we're seeing," Trump said.
Pressed on the offensive nature of the ad, the president stood his ground. "A lot of things are offensive. Your questions are offensive."
Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale, denounced the networks, except Fox News, tweeting that NBC News, CNN and Facebook had chosen "to stand with those illegally in this county."
Tuesday's midterm elections are widely seen as a referendum on Trump and they have been portrayed by both Republicans and Democrats as critical. Control of both chambers of Congress and some 36 governors' offices will be decided.
President Trump has focused the last weeks of the campaign on the issue of immigration, taking a hard line by warning of the migrant caravan transiting through Central America and floating the idea that birthright citizenship should be revoked.
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