NBC Apologizes for Omitting 'Under God' in Video of Children Reciting Pledge of Allegiance

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — An omission in the Pledge of Allegiance had NBC issuing an on-air apology Sunday during the U.S. Open.

The network opened its broadcast with a montage that included children reciting the pledge, but the words "under God" and "indivisible" were omitted.

The backlash on social media was quick and harsh, with some tweets calling for a boycott of NBC.

"We began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago, and when we did it was our intent to begin the coverage of this U.S. Open championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being held in our nation's capital for the third time," announcer Dan Hicks told viewers. "Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone, and we'd like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it."