Fox News said Monday it has stopped airing the controversial political ad paid for by President Donald Trump’s
campaign, which likens members of the Central American migrant caravan
to a man convicted of killing police officers in the U.S.
The Trump-friendly network’s decision comes after CNN made headlines on Saturday for refusing to air it and after NBC came under fire for running it during prime time on Sunday night.
“Upon
further review, Fox News pulled the ad yesterday and it will not appear
on either Fox News Channel or Fox Business Network,” ad sales president
Marianne Gambelli said in a statement.
The 30-second spot includes footage of Luis Bracamontes,
an undocumented immigrant from Mexico citizen sentenced to death in
April for killing two police officers in California in 2014.
The
ad compares his behavior to members of the caravan, which mostly
comprises adults and children who plan to legally seek asylum at ports
of entry into the U.S. The video then urges viewers to “vote Republican”
before a voiceover from Trump says he approves the message.
CNN called out the ad as blatantly “racist” in
replying to critical tweets from Donald Trump Jr., the president’s
eldest son, who charged that the network would “only run fake news and
won’t talk about real threats.”
Fox’s decision follows NBC saying earlier Monday that it had erred in running the ad.
“After further review, we recognize the insensitive nature of the ad and have decided to cease airing it
across our properties as soon as possible,” said Joe Benarroch, a
spokesperson for the network’s advertising sales department, said.