



Soon after NBC aired a pre-taped segment for a golf tournament that twice omitted the words "under God" from the United States Pledge of Allegiance, the Twittersphere erupted into a fury of controversy.

The NBC TV network's coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament at the Congressional Country Club near Washington, D.C., featured a patriotic theme, where the Pledge of Allegiance was recited by schoolchildren, intercut with patriotic images. Twice during that segment, the words "under God" were omitted, with the second reference also eliminating the phrase "one nation."

The TV network apologized later in the broadcast for offending anyone by omitting the phrase, without mentioning which words were left out. Said NBC announcer Dan Hicks, "Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of the 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."

In the crude video embedded above, you can see that NBC was getting arty with the editing, pausing within the staged school kids' recitation of the pledge. Was the omission inadvertent? Or was NBC making a statement?

Interestingly enough, the phrase "under God" was not part of the original Pledge of Allegiance. It was added by the U.S. Congress at the urging of President Dwight Eisenhower, who signed the bill into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.