C.J. Stroud, the 22-year-old starting quarterback for the Houston Texans, has rarely missed an opportunity to express his faith in Jesus since he joined the NFL.
Of course, some major media outlets clearly don’t want that kind of content reaching their viewers, which might have been why NBC decided to remove his faith-based remarks entirely in a post-game interview clip shared to social media after a big Texans win last month.
CJ Stroud is an amazing quarterback and a devout Christian.
But NBC is so afraid of him mentioning the name of Jesus Christ on air that they edited his post-game interview.
Whoever is responsible for this should be fired. pic.twitter.com/S3qrlzlce2
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) January 18, 2024
While the incident sparked widespread backlash aimed at the network, Stroud himself recently responded with a message of love and forgiveness that seemed to reflect his sincere Christian faith.
As Faithwire reported:
In a separate interview with Complex, Stroud said he’s “not angry” about the censorship.
“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,” he said. “I just want to show love. 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.”
“I think God has called us to really just be a light to one another and just show love,” Stroud added. “I just pray for people and I don’t have any ill will or any anger to that. I wish that it wasn’t that, but, I’m just being myself always. I grew up in the church and I found Christ in myself and I’m just trying to get better and I just want people to feel the love that I felt from God. So, I don’t feel any ill will about it, it’s all love.”
A wide array of social media users spoke out in support of Stroud in the weeks since the incident.
Sharing so C.J. Stroud's message is heard LOUD and CLEAR – despite NBC Sports trying to censor it!
You can't silence our praise! pic.twitter.com/fzIyCp2yeb
— Caleb Parke (@calebparke) January 19, 2024
The media hates Christianity, and in response, Christians like C.J. Stroud pray for the anti-Christian media. https://t.co/0diG1tBoZ2
— CNSNews (@cnsnews) January 31, 2024
NBC CONTROVERSY: NBC has come under fire for omitting Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud's praise of Jesus Christ during a postgame. MORE: https://t.co/rObpuKzVXZ pic.twitter.com/SFLWPNLeZE
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) January 19, 2024
“I just really want to show love and show people what I stand for. I pray for everybody, and I don’t really have any feeling toward it. I just pray for everyone.”
C.J. Stroud when asked about how he felt when NBC cut out him praising Jesus during the post game interview. pic.twitter.com/tb3Y24JBvx
— OutKick (@Outkick) January 30, 2024
A well-known retired NFL quarterback was among the fellow athletes who slammed NBC’s behavior.
According to Fox News:
A fellow Christian, former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb, took his own shots at the network while defending Stroud.
“It’s very lame,” McNabb said on his OutKick podcast, “The Five Spot.”
“Players always express that as well, and to have that cut out is truly, it’s disrespectful,” he added. “There are a lot of people out there who are Christians and believe in Jesus, and those who don’t believe in Jesus, still, they don’t feel like that’s disrespectful to them.
“To cut it out and be a media outlet that’s focusing on the game interviewing these players, the fans want to feel as one with the player. And when they hear a player talk, they break down everything that young man says — and young woman. … I just think, for NBC, they stuck their foot in a hole at this particular point. They gotta get themselves out.”
Here’s another look at Stroud’s outspoken embrace of his faith:
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