Chicago NBC Removes ‘Objectionable’ Content After Hindus Protest

NBC Chicago (USA) television station removed from its website within few hours the content which perturbed Hindus considered “inappropriate”, labeling their deities as “weird”.

A commentary on its website titled “Why a 3-1 Blackhawks Loss Isn’t So Bad” dated January 25, detailing ice hockey team Nashville Predators beating Chicago Blackhawks 3-1in Chicago on Tuesday night, said that Predators were “swallowing up space like some weird Hindu god”, which Hindus strongly objected.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, thanked NBC for showing responsibility and maturity for taking quick action and for having an understanding for the hurt feelings of Hindu community. It was a step in the right direction, he added.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement yesterday, said that about one billion Hindus worldwide worshipped their deities almost on a daily basis and labeling them as “weird” was highly hurting their feelings. He had Hasked for immediate removal of inappropriate words from the NBC Chicago website.

Rajan Zed points out that Hindus are for free speech as much as anybody else if not more. Hindu tradition encourages peaceful debates, won on their intellectual merit. But faith is something sacred and attempts at belittling it hurt the devotees. Media should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as media like religion is very powerful.

Zed had argued that Hindu deities were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be irrelevantly branded as “weird” while commenting on an ice hockey game. These deities were highly revered in Hinduism and inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees, Zed had stressed.

of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled, Rajan Zed had stated.

Last year also, Hindus were perturbed to see the portrayal of Lord Ganesh as a sex act on NBC’s Saturday Night Live demonstrated by actors Jim Carrey and Kenan Thomson, mocking elephant-headed Lord Ganesh and his trunk in the process, Zed added.