NBC Won’t Air Ad from Enes Kanter Freedom and Rep. Mike Waltz That Calls Out U.S. Sponsors of China’s ‘Genocide Games,’ Says GOP Rep

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Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) claimed on Saturday that NBC refused to air a 30-second ad critical of U.S. companies sponsoring the 2022 Beijing Olympics, or what he dubbed the “Genocide Games.”

“The world’s greatest athletic showcase, but just outside the show: rape, genocide, slave labor,” Waltz said in the ad. “American companies are drunk on Chinese dollars, entangled with communist dictators committing atrocities and propping up these genocide games staged by the Chinese Communist Party.”

The ad also featured Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom, a human rights advocate and vocal critic of the Chinese government.

“Stand for freedom, defund the dictators,” Kanter said. “When you see ‘Made in China..'”

“…Put it down,” Waltz finished.

In a tweet, Waltz said NBC “refused to air” the ad “unless we censor U.S. corporate logos of the Genocide Games sponsors.”

Logos featured in the ad included Procter & Gamble, Visa, Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Intel, and Nike — all of which except Nike are listed as top sponsors by the International Olympic Committee. Nike, however, is providing apparel for Team USA.

An NBC spokesperson told the New York Post that “the ad was not rejected.”

“Per NBCUniversal’s long-standing advertising guidelines, changes to the ad were requested so it could air,” the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Waltz, James Hewitt, told the Post that removing corporate logos “defeats a major purpose of the ad: to highlight US sponsors’ culpability with China’s human rights abuses.

“The point of the ad was to target Olympic audiences in DC,” Hewitt said.

According to the Post, Waltz “billed the $40,000 ad to his campaign.”