(Photo: CNN)

NBC faces boycotting after giving in to Trump’s demands

#NBCBlackout is trending on Twitter in response to the separate town hall broadcasts for the Rep. candidate Donald Trump and Dem. candidate Joe Biden. ABC will be airing Biden’s town hall and NBC will be hosting Trump’s town hall, it seems that NBC is stuck in the crossfire of the boycotting of Trump’s town hall.

The general public has taken to social media calling for others to boycott Trump’s town hall and its broadcaster, NBC. It just so happens that both town hall broadcasts will occur at the same time tonight at 8 PM on opposing networks.

Tonight was originally scheduled for the second presidential debate but Trump refused to participate. Trump’s refusal was followed by the decision of the Presidential Debate Commission (PDC) to host the event in a digital format after Trump tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

NBC Staffers Seethe as Trump Gleefully Uses the Network Against Biden#NBCBlackout https://t.co/nrkpWYBZUi

— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) October 15, 2020

The PDC decided it would be best for all participants to host virtual town halls separately and Trump negotiated conditions to air his town hall on NBC for the same night and time as Biden’s town hall on ABC. Top entertainment industry workers have signed a petition asking NBC to move Trump’s town hall slot to discourage Trump’s erratic behavior and undercutting the PDC debate policies.

It seems that the separate town hall broadcasts are planning on going on as scheduled for tonight and NBC is refusing to move the time slot. A chairman of NBCU News Group disclosed, “We share in the frustration that our event will initially air alongside the first half of ABC’s broadcast with Vice President Biden. Our decision is motivated only by fairness, not business considerations. We aired a town hall with Vice President Biden on October 5 at 8 pm. If we were to move our town hall with President Trump to a later timeslot we would be violating our commitment to offering both campaigns access to the same audience and the same forum. We hope voters will watch both discussions – ours will be available at any time, free and on-demand on YouTube, Peacock and all our digital news platforms.”