Fox News, NBC and Facebook won’t run Trump ad

NBCUniversal said Monday that it is pulling President Donald Trump’s controversial anti-immigrant campaign advertisement, hours after the spot ran prominently during “Sunday Night Football.” Fox News said it decided to quit running the commercial as well, and Facebook stopped accepting it as a paid ad, although the social media giant still allows users to post the video.

The 30-second advertisement, which Trump unveiled last week, features images of long lines of people marching, evoking a group of migrants currently making their way through Mexico. The ad also contains footage of Luis Bracamontes, a man who killed two Northern California deputies in 2014 while he was in the country illegally. A voice-over on the advertisement then says: “America cannot allow this invasion. The migrant caravan must be stopped.”

The commercial, which many have branded as racist, then urges viewers to “Stop the Caravan. Vote Republican.” It concludes with a Trump voice-over saying: “I am Donald Trump and I approve this message.”

The controversy comes in the run-up to Tuesday’s crucial midterm elections, which will determine the makeup of Congress for the next two years. Dozens of governorships also are up for grabs around the country.

Trump has been campaigning strenuously in recent days, holding rallies in battleground states such as Florida, West Virginia and Indiana. The president frequently blames Democrats for the stalemate over immigration reform and has made prominent mention of the migrants fleeing Central America by making their way through southern Mexico.

The ad ran one time during “Sunday Night Football,” a high-profile matchup between the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers. “Sunday Night Football” draws among the highest ratings in television, and Sunday’s installment generated the highest ratings for a network program in more than six months, according to preliminary Nielsen numbers. Ratings estimates suggest more than 20 million viewers watched the game, which New England won. The ad also was in rotation Monday morning on cable news channel MSNBC.

Fox News distanced itself from the commercial. “Upon further review, Fox News pulled the ad yesterday and it will not appear on either Fox News Channel or Fox Business Network,” Marianne Gambelli, Fox News’ president of ad sales, said Monday in a statement.

Some other news organizations, including CNN, refused to run the spot.

Trump faced reporters’ questions about the controversy before he boarded Air Force One on Monday. The president said he wasn’t aware of the flap.