Even Fox News Can’t Bear Trump’s Racist Ad

NBC, Facebook and even Fox News all took non-traditional steps to remove President Trump’s inflammatory and discriminatory campaign ad just a day before the midterm election.

Building upon Trump’s recent anti-immigrant moves—from portraying the immigrant caravan as an invasion to deploying 5,200 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border—the 30-second ad released by Trump’s political team encourages a similar xenophobic sentiment.

Consisted of dramatic scenes and exaggerated statements, the video depicts asylum seekers in Mexico as terrorists and criminals: “Dangerous illegal criminals like cop-killer Luis Bracamontes don’t care about our laws.”

“Stop the caravan. Vote Republican,” says the ending of the video.

Before major networks took action to reject it, the commercial aired 18 times on different media platforms like Fox News, Fox Business Network and MSNBC. It also got over one million views on Facebook and became greatly divisive and controversial on social media.

NBC, especially, received harsh criticism for playing the video during an NFL game between the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers.

Actress Debra Messing, the star of an NBC show, tweeted her discontent in emotional language. “I want you to know that I am ashamed that my network aired this disgusting racist ad,” she said “It is the antithesis of everything I personally believe in, and what, I believe, our show is all about.”

https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/1059378077468307456

Although NBC previously approved the commercial, in the face of a strong backlash, NBCUniversal announced on Monday that the station would no longer air the 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,” said Joe Benarroch from NBC’s advertising sales department.

Facebook started to promote the commercial after Trump paid the platform to target users in key states such as Arizona and Florida. But the company then decided to take down the ad for similar reasons, claiming that it is against “Facebook’s advertising policy against sensational content.” Although the spokesperson assured users that they could still post it on their timelines.

Even the more conservative outlet Fox News decided that it was inappropriate to keep running the commercial on their programmes. Marianna Gambelli, the president of ad sales, released a statement saying that the ad will stop appearing on either Fox News Channel or Fox Business Network.

CNN rejected the ad from the beginning due to its “racist” nature.

This act provoked Trump supporters who took the criticism as an opportunity to further their assault on liberal media. The president’s son Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter that CNN “won’t talk about real threats that don’t suit their agenda.”

Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale turned to the president’s usual language when attacking news organizations. “The #FakeNewsMedia and #PaloAltoMafia are trying to control what you see and how you think,” he tweeted.

Republican strategist Alex Castellanos embraced the controversy and believed it to be beneficial to Trump’s campaign. “The day before the election, there’s not enough time to air the ad and have it make a difference,” he said. “But if it becomes controversial, a lot of people will see it who otherwise would not.”

Trump himself chose to play dumb. Asked on Monday for his response to the controversy, the president simply replied: “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 that we’re seeing,” he added.

When reporters pointed out that some believed the commercial to be offensive, Trump said: “A lot of things are offensive. Your questions are offensive a lot of times so, you know.”

Featured image via Kevin Lamarque/Reuters