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.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the
world with a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly.
Symbols 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.
NBC Chicago (WMAQ-TV, channel 5) is owned by NBC (National Broadcasting Company), a division of NBCUniversal headquartered in New York City whose traces go back to 1926. Stephen B. Burke is Chief Executive Officer of NBCUniversal while Larry Wert is President of NBC 5 Chicago. NBCUniversal claims to be one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience.