This past January, NBC faced significant criticism and backlash after the network edited a clip of Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud. Following the Texans’ playoff victory over the Cleveland Browns, a game the network televised three weeks ago, Stroud spoke to sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen.
During that interview, Stroud thanked “his lord and savior, Jesus Christ.” The full quote from Awful Announcing can be read below:
“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.”
NBC’s Sunday Night in America X account, used as a proxy for their SNF coverage, featured the video of the interview. But the clip was obviously edited, as any mention of the religious reference was removed entirely.
It was unclear why NBC removed the religious reference in the first place. But three weeks later, Stroud has responded to the controversy. The Houston quarterback is, all things considered, playing it calmly.
“I’m not angry about it,” the Texans quarterback told Complex. The publication asked Stroud if he had any feelings towards NBC after the network removed the reference. “I wish that it wasn’t that, but, you know, I pray for people and I think God has called us to love one another through thick and thin, mistakes or success.
“I just want to show love,” Stroud continued. “We’re not all perfect as people, even myself. I follow the Lord, but I’m not perfect, and I try to just be that light in a dark time.”
More from Stroud:
“There’s a lot of darkness in this world. I think God has called us to really just be a light to one another and just show love,” he said. Stroud added, “I Just pray for people and I don’t have any ill will or anger to that. I wish that it wasn’t that, but, I’m just being myself always.”
So it doesn’t sound like there’ll be any ill will, leaving this peculiar situation closed up.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022