Fox, NBC and Facebook turn down Trump ad deemed racist

MSNBC also aired it on “Morning Joe” Monday.

Released last week, the advertisement includes footage of Luis Bracamontes, a twice-deported immigrant from Mexico sentenced to death in California for killing two police officers. He’s seen smiling in a court appearance and saying, “I will break out soon and I will kill more.”

An earlier version of the ad said, without evidence, that “Democrats let him into our country.” That claim was deleted from the current version.

The new edit still shows masses of people shaking at a fence, apparently trying to break it down, and ends with the tagline, “Trump and Republicans are making America safe again.”

NBC was the first of the three companies to say it was stopping the advertisement Monday, apparently after a fierce online response.

“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.

Marianne Gambelli, Fox News’ president of advertising sales, said the commercial was pulled on Sunday “upon further review.” Fox did not immediately say how many times it had aired on either Fox News Channel or the Fox Business Network.

Facebook initially ran the ad but that was an error, company spokesman Andy Stone said, because it violates the company’s policy against sensation content.

Facebook is still allowing its members to post the ad in their news feeds, however.

Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, tweeted that NBC News, CNN and Facebook had chosen “to stand with those ILLEGALLY IN THIS COUNTRY.” He said the media was trying to control what you see and think.

Parscale made no mention of Fox’s decision.

The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., had tweeted over the weekend, noting CNN’s refusal to air the advertisement, that “I guess they only run fake news and won’t talk about real threats that don’t suit their agenda.”

CNN said through Twitter that it was made “abundantly clear” through its coverage that the ad was racist and declined to air it when the campaign sought to buy airtime.

David Bauder, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Fox, NBC and Facebook turn down Trump ad deemed racist

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