NBC decision to censor NFL player's reference to Jesus draws widespread ire

While an NFL playoff win would normally bring nothing but pride and excitement to a member on the victorious team, an incident in which a player's expression of gratitude to Christ was excised from NBC's coverage resulted in disappointment as well as criticism from fans and faithful alike, as Fox News reports.

The events in question surrounded comments made by Houston Texans standout C.J Stroud, who had just helped his team triumph over the Cleveland Browns, as OutKick noted.

In a jubilant post-game interview, Stroud basked in the thrill of his squad's success and said that he gave “all glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

That statement apparently ran afoul of those in charge of NBC's Sunday Night Football X account, as evidenced by the fact that when they posted the interview on the platform, Stroud's references to Christ had been edited out.

The blatant censorship was discussed on The Five Spot with Donovan McNabb, hosted by the former NFL quarterback, who was joined by OutKick writer Armando Salguero.

The topic of NBC's decision was broached by Salguero, who stated, “I'm a Christian, right, but as a Christian, I recognize that the media in the United States of America, and really throughout the world, hates – for some reason; I'm not gonna say why – they hate Jesus.”

“They hate the mentions of Jesus unless you're using it as a swear word,” he added.

Salguero went on, “They hate the propagation of Jesus. And they hate the idea that people might, you know, push salvation through Jesus.”

Wondering aloud whether NBC would have cut similar remarks if they had been made with regard to a non-Christian faith, Salguero said bluntly, “And so it's offensive. Yeah, I'm offended. I'm totally offended.”

McNabb was in sync with those sentiments, saying, “I'm right there with you. I always obviously say our prayers and I'm a Christian as well.”

“And yes, all praises do go to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So we talked about it and, and players always expressed that as well and to have that cut out is truly, I mean, it's disrespectful,” opined McNabb.

Suggesting that NBC needs to reflect and consider some type of course correction, McNabb added, “I just think for what NBC they've stuck their foot in a hole at this particular point. They gotta find a way to pull themselves out.”

“I just think for NBC at this particular point, there's gotta be, there's got to be a conversation now because it's become a national thing,” he concluded.

Perhaps the most succinctly accurate assessment of the controversy came from NFL spouse Rachel Bush, who took to Instagram and declared simply, “Oooff society is so backwards.”