NBC inexplicably edits out “Under God” from Pledge

At the beginning of NBC’s coverage of the U.S. Open Golf Championship, the network inexplicably cut the phrase “under God” from a childrens’ recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

What would prompt the network to eliminate that phrase? The editing seems purposeful and Dan Hick’s failed attempt at an apology does nothing to alleviate disdain from viewers.

“Earlier 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 that were offended by it.”

Hick’s statement doesn’t assert that the omission was an accident or mis-step. In fact, he seems to be saying that the edit was intentional, they just didn’t do it with the purpose of upsetting anyone.

The PGA has received hundreds of calls asking about the intent of the edit to which they released this statement on their PGA tour facebook page:

A note to those of you who have posted on our page regarding yeterday’s broadcast of the US Open and the way the Pledge of Allegiance was handled. We were unaware of the decision to edit the piece in that way prior to its airing. We have passed along your concerns and are addressing the decision with our partners at NBC Sports. Thanks for tuning in and letting us know you care.