‘#BoycottNBC’: Network faces backlash after announcing live Trump event on night of cancelled presidential debate

Original town hall cancelled after president refused virtual format

Democratic Presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden (L) and US President Donald Trump speak during the first presidential debate (AFP via Getty Images)

NBC is facing fierce backlash after revealing they would televise President Donald Trump in a live event on the same night as the cancelled presidential debate.

The hashtag “BoycottNBC” began trending on Twitter on Wednesday with many people expressing their anger that the network agreed to host the event with Mr Trump after he refused to appear in the virtual presidential debate originally scheduled for the same evening.

The time and date of the event is also scheduled for the exact same time as a town hall event with Joe Biden on a respective network.

NBC News confirmed on Wednesday that Mr Trump will appear on Thursday night at 8pm outdoors at the Perez Art Museum in Miami. Mr Biden was already scheduled to appear in the same primetime slot for ABC News on Thursday in Philadelphia.

Twitter users were quick to make their feelings on the crossover known with many condemning the decision.

“Shame on NBC for giving Trump a platform after he cowardly canceled the debate. But on the bright side, no one in the world does worse at town halls than Trump. No one. This will be delicious,” Scott Dworkin , co-founder of the Democratic Coalition, tweeted.

Star Trek actor George Takei commented: “If NBC wanted to give Trump a platform after he backed out of the debate, why on earth would they schedule the town hall to overlap with Biden’s tomorrow night? How does that serve anyone’s interests? They should delay the Trump town hall until after Biden’s is done.”

The candidates will appear on the separate networks at the same time in appearances that will adopt the traditional town hall format.

“The decision by NBC News to run a Trump town hall directly opposite ABC's Biden town hall is indefensible,” political analyst Jeff Greenfield tweeted.

The clash in scheduling comes after the Commission on Presidential Debates cancelled plans for the second event on 15 October following Donald Trump’s refusal to join a virtual event.

The originally scheduled town hall event, in which candidates answer questions from voters, was changed to a virtual meeting following Mr Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis on 2 October. 

Some users expressed skepticism over allowing the president to appear following his attitude towards the virus and his diagnosis.

“NBC is rewarding Trump for his irresponsible behavior. He just got out of the hospital with coronavirus, still hasn’t been wearing a mask, and has been spreading lies and misinformation about Covid-19 at daily campaign rallies with no social distancing,” CNN commentator Keith Boykin said.

“For the life of me I do not understand why NBC is doing this. Zero lessons learned from 2016. And on top of everything, his Covid diagnosis. Reckless, irresponsible, and unforgivable. Shame on NBC,” attorney Eric Slater tweeted.

NBC News said they had agreed to the event after the president submitted to an independent coronavirus test with the results reviewed by Dr Anthony Fauci and stipulated the president would be at least 12 feet (3.66 meters) from the moderator and the audience.

Mr Trump resumed public appearances over the weekend and resumed campaign travel on Monday. His doctors have insisted that the president would be able to take part in the debate in person.

His physician, Dr Sean Conley, said on Sunday that the 74-year-old had met Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) safety standards for leaving isolation and was no longer considered a transmission risk.

However, he did not say say when Mr Trump last returned a negative test for Covid-19.

NBC News did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.

The network had hoped to stagger the television events so that viewers would not have to choose between them, according to The Washington Post.

However, now that both events have been confirmed for the same prime time slot they will be vying for viewers' attention between the two broadcasts.

NBC News’ town hall will be moderated by TODAY anchor Savannah Guthrie while lead anchor George Stephanopoulos will moderate ABC News’ offering.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press