Completing 16 of 21 pass attempts for 274 yards and three touchdowns, C.J. Stroud continued his star-making rookie season in the Houston Texans’ 45-14 victory over the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Wild Card round on Saturday.
So it’s no surprise that NBC’s Kathryn Tappen grabbed Stroud for a postgame interview, asking the Ohio State product what the Texans’ Wild Card win meant to him.
“First of all, I just want to give all glory and praise to my lord and savior, Jesus Christ,” Stroud said. “I mean, it’s been amazing being in this city for as short as I’ve been but the love that I’ve got. I’ve really just been doing it for Houston, man. The people back home, I’m blessed enough to be in the position that I’m in and blessed enough to be playing at a high level right now. We gotta just keep it going, but I’m super blessed.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BANNj2wNDQI
Pretty standard stuff.
Tappen’s interview with Stroud, however, soon become an unlikely source of controversy. While the interview aired in its entirety on NBC, a clip of it that was posted to NBC’s Sunday Night in America X (formerly Twitter) account edited the rookie quarterback’s answer down, removing the religious references at the start of his answer.
CJ Stroud has a lot of love for his city ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fZ4zFrcqWt
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) January 14, 2024
As people picked up on the discrepancy between Stroud’s actual interview and the clip that was posted to social media, many were quick to criticize NBC for what they viewed as a form of religious censorship.
BREAKING: NBC is being accused of editing CJ Stroud’s postgame interview, cutting out CJ thanking Jesus Christ.
😳
It seems like being religious and praying to a god is no longer allowed.
(🎥@NFLTrenchBattle) pic.twitter.com/1minoDFR3d
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 17, 2024
First they cut Al Michaels from the playoff roster, now they cut a rookie quarterback thanking Jesus. Take a bow, NBC. You're having a great week. https://t.co/GA8fIKpQF6
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) January 18, 2024
Embarrassing from NBC…If you want to have the privilege to interview athletes, you don’t get to pick and choose what our response is. Shoutout CJ for honoring Jesus through it all🙌🏻 https://t.co/W2dGXyzttk
— Jordan Wicks (@jordan_wicks99) January 18, 2024
Jesus Christ will be given the praise he is due and @nbc will not censor it. Huge fan of @CJ7STROUD as he continues to set the example every day. Every tongue shall confess. https://t.co/JKy9bgYsyh
— Nate Campbell (@nate_campbell17) January 18, 2024
It’s unclear why NBC made the decision to edit Stroud’s answer. Giving the network the benefit of the doubt, it’s possible it wanted to share just a short clip of the interview on social media and opted to go with the more football-relevant portion of his answer.
Still, NBC should have known better than to remove something as sensitive as religion out of Stroud’s answer, especially without noting that the clip had been condensed. While it’s plausible that the network’s social media team only edited Stroud’s answer due to length and not its content, it opened itself up to unnecessary criticism, especially from those assuming the worst.
