NBC Apologizes For Omitting 'Under God' From Pledge Of Allegiance (VIDEO)

NBC apologized after the network twice omitted the words "under God" from a clip of students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as part of its coverage of the U.S. Open.

Speaking on the air, commentator Dan Hicks issued the following apology:

“We began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago and when we did it was our intent to begin the coverage of this U.S. Open Championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being held in our nation’s capital for the third time. Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone and we’d like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it.”

The omission was immediately noted across Twitter and various blogs, with many viewers irate at NBC.

WATCH:

Comments

[islandbiker]

10:39 AM on 07/06/2011

NBC deleted God? wow they really are some pretentious pricks.

[islandbiker]

10:49 AM on 07/06/2011

currahee

[AnathTheGoddess]

12:52 AM on 06/30/2011

The original Pledge of Allegiance was written by Frances Bellamy, a Baptist minister and Christian socialist, in 1892 and has been amended 3 times...the last in 1954 to add "under God" after much lobbying from religious leaders/groups. It was "I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

The first amendment was just to add the word "to" before "the republic." The second one was, of course, the current version less the words "under God." Looks like the first three versions understood about separation of church and state.

[sirochs]

11:35 AM on 07/02/2011

Go read what "separation of church and state" really means, who wrote that statement, and why. We as a people have misplaced the concept of why this nation was founded and what God meant to those who founded it.

If we take God out of America, I'm afraid He'll oblige us.

[Kari Davisson]

02:41 PM on 06/29/2011

My thought: as an American, you have the right to say it the way you WANT to say it. With or without God. Our freedoms of speech, choice and religion support that. Just because the pledge has a "law" about how to say it, there's not law that you MUST say it. So...I say, say it with pride, and say it how you believe it. Your God, my God, their Gods, or no God. We're still one republic, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all! :)

[Jim Lynch]

10:47 AM on 06/29/2011

NBC owes us *much* more of an explanation. WHY was it cut out? Why those words and not some other words? NBC says: "...It was not done to upset anyone...". OK, so what was the reason it was done? Very lame, NBC.

[WesTweet]

10:40 PM on 06/29/2011

Because not everyone in the states believes in god... which god by the way?

[sirochs]

11:41 AM on 07/02/2011

@WesTweet...Really? Not everyone believes in other parts of the pledge as well. Many people believe there is not "liberty and justices for all" in America. NBC left that part in. I'm sure there were people angry that the pledge was spoken at all. Why not cut it completely out? I'm sure some people were upset that there were students in the program. Why not cut the program out? But they cut out "under God."

[catayl]

06:07 PM on 06/28/2011

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." - Francis Bellamy 1892
no apologies necessary, NBC.

[staziaw]

04:58 PM on 06/28/2011

Dear God, enough with the "God" business!!! (all smirking intended)

[CallaLilly2011]

12:28 PM on 06/28/2011

I meant to say "leave"

[CallaLilly2011]

12:28 PM on 06/28/2011

I say leve the plege the way it is. I pledge allegiance TO GOD. I am not a religious person, I prefer to have faith, and am thankful am allowed to believe how I so choose.

[WesTweet]

10:41 PM on 06/29/2011

Under god was added in late 1800s/early 1900s. I say leave it the way it was.

[WesTweet]

10:42 PM on 06/29/2011

my bad, 1954.

[euthman]

11:33 AM on 06/24/2011

According to notes left by Francis Bellamy, who wrote the original, the great theme of the Pledge is the unity of the American people. When the McCarthy-era Congress appended "under God" to the Pledge in 1954, they automatically excluded atheists and agnostics from that unity. Currently that figure is about 15%. Do we really want to categorically exclude one out of seven Americans from our ideal of a unified America? Do we not want them on our side as Americans? Do we not want them to declare allegiance to our Flag and the Republic for which it stands? Or would we rather they seek acceptance elsewhere?

I don't know about others, but I want _all_ Americans, irrespective of religious belief, to be on our side.

[thehunter325]

04:49 PM on 06/24/2011

I would agree to have all Americans on the same side regardless of religious belief. The phrase "under God" added to the pledge was signed into law. It is certainly appropriate that all Americans adhere to the laws of the land.
By purposely excluding the phrase, were those 15% of Americans pleased?
By purposely excluding the phrase, 85% of Americans were offended.
It is obviously rather difficult to appease absolutely everyone in this country with every little nuance.
However, keeping 85% unified may be a better solution than keeping 15% unified.

[WildWilly]

09:04 PM on 06/25/2011

Highlighting division in order to stroke the bigotry of the majority is not about creating unity at all.

[islandbiker]

10:43 AM on 07/06/2011

Agreed....

[sirochs]

11:45 AM on 07/02/2011

Do we seek acceptance from all people, despite their beliefs? That is a concerning ideology. I, personally, would rather have God on my side than atheists. Weigh the consequences if there is no God vs. if there is. The risk/reward is fairly compelling.

[Paul Bucklaw]

03:37 PM on 06/23/2011

Watch video here, huh, video removed by user...

[spartanladkenny]

11:28 AM on 06/23/2011

How about people get upset over the fact that NEWS organizations edit content of actual news (or not show it at all) to fit their agenda misinforming millions of viewers thereby affecting political discourse in this country? And we're worried about "Under God"? Faith does make sane people go insane!

[spartanladkenny]

11:25 AM on 06/23/2011

Get over it! They're just words. If you really held allegiance to your country deep inside you, it will still hold true even if the "Pledge of Allegiance" didn't exist or if never uttered a single word from the Pledge.

Little People, Little Minds!

[Carbon13]

04:26 PM on 06/22/2011

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.This is the original pledge written in 1892 by Socialist Minister Francis Bellamy.Eisenhower had it altered sometime in the 50's adding "under god." Bellamy's daughter objected to this change.

[Frank Giordano]

05:48 PM on 06/22/2011

So Carbon, your issue is that 57 years ago they changed the words of the Pledge. Fair enough. But the issue is not the words contained within the Pledge, but that NBC edited out that which they didn't agree with. As Galieo articulated so clearly below, the problem is not what was edited, but that it WAS edited. We must demand better. Next time it just might be something you do care about.

[Carbon13]

09:18 PM on 06/22/2011

57 years isn't that long ago and it shouldn't have been changed to begin with.When you give one thing a free pass no matter how small you regard it,you leave the door wide open for other things to pass through.Like NBC's arbitrary "under god" edit and the Patriot Act, which is the child of the Sedition Act of 1918. It wouldn't make a difference even if I did demand better of NBC because nobody listens or cares. People just get on the internet, complain and all is forgotten within a week.I don't have to worry about the things I care about getting edited because Fox News and the majority of politicians need something to rally up fear and anger.

[Galieo]

08:26 PM on 06/21/2011

To me all the religious/non-religious discussion doesn't much matter. Am I the only person, no matter his or her political views, that is a little weirded out and disquieted by this editing? No matter how I feel about the actual words, clearly someone at a large broadcast corporation removed words that a bunch of children actually recited. Now if NBC purposefully had the children recite the previous pledge without the words in question, that somehow feels very different to me.

Maybe I am too critical, but it makes me uncomfortable. Yes, I know everyone on every side of the political spectrum rails against the mainstream media (whatever that means), but I have to say this decision could cause anyone to ask, "What else is being selectively edited?"

[Laura Geiger]

07:31 PM on 06/21/2011

They don't need to apologize