NBC News Nixes Chelsea Clinton's Pro Same-Sex Marriage Commercials
Recent reports have indicated that NBC News blocked pro same-sex marriage commercials featuring former U.S. first daughter Chelsea Clinton, which were due to air in the state of Washington prior to the Nov. 6 vote on the state's gay marriage referendum.
Although it is still unknown why NBC chose to block the two public service announcements featuring Clinton, many critics suggest that because Clinton is a "special correspondent" for NBC, the mega-television network did not want to appear partisan by running such ads.
Sources familiar with the two commercials, which never hit public airwaves, told pop culture website Buzzfeed last week that NBC had chosen to "scuttle" the campaign.
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"Clinton, a vocal proponent of marriage equality, cut the video for a group supporting the Washington state measure, as well as a second video for another group," Buzzfeed reporter Chris Geidner wrote in his report.
Pro same-sex marriage advocates are reprimanding NBC for cutting the commercials, arguing that the television network should support same-sex marriage, but critics are oppositely commending NBC for maintaining an impartial stance despite the potential backlash for doing so.
Still other critics, such as Lilly O'Donnell, argue that although NBC is attempting to maintain an impartial political position, the television network already showed its true liberal colors when they chose Clinton, a member of a highly democratic family, to be its "special correspondent."
"NBC seems to want to have it both ways: the celebrity correspondent who people will tune in to see because of her political connections, and a news team that's considered objective," wrote Lilly O'Donnell for Policy Mic.
"They were trying to maintain credibility, which is admirable, except that in this case, when the correspondent whose objectivity they were trying to preserve clearly never existed, they ended up doing the opposite," O'Donnell added.
Regardless of NBC's choice to nix Clinton's commercials, same-sex marriage was legalized in Washington, Maine, and Maryland as a result of the Nov. 6 election.
Voters in Minnesota on Nov. 6 rejected a ban which reserved marriage to be between a man and a woman only.
The U.S. Supreme Court will meet Nov. 30 to review the Defense of Marriage Act, signed by former U.S. president Bill Clinton.
The U.S. Supreme Court can either choose to allow or ban same-sex marriage legalization nationwide, or continue allowing states to legalize same-sex marriage by a voter process state by state.
