Savannah Guthrie Draws Pushback for Calling Xi’s Reported Move to Have a Uyghur Light Olympic Cauldron an ‘In-Your-Face Response’ to Critics

NBC Today anchor Savannah Guthrie has received pushback on Twtter over her characterization of a reported Uyghur that co-lit the Olympic flame at the end of Friday’s opening ceremony at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The reported Uyghur, Dinigeer Yilamujiang, along with Zhao Jiawen, lit the flame.

Guthrie described what happened as a “provocative” move and “a statement” by Chinese President Xi Jingping, calling it “an in-your-face response to those Western nations, including the U.S., who have called this Chinese treatment of that group genocide and diplomatically boycotted these games.”

Earlier in the broadcast of the ceremony, former Wall Street Journal senior correspondent and columnist Andrew Browne made other comments that were similarly criticized for too closely mirroring the propaganda of Communist China.

“It’s worth remembering that while Western countries may be boycotting these Olympics over human rights issues, China styles itself as a champion of the developing world, and it has plenty of support in countries from Africa to Latin America where its investments are building up local economies,” Browne said, referring to China’s Belt and Road initiative.

The United States is one of the countries that diplomatically boycotted the 2022 Olympics over China’s human rights record that not only includes its genocide of the Uyghurs, but also its oppression of other minorities such as the Falun Gong and the regime’s suppression of dissent in Hong Kong.

Watch above, via NBC.