On Tuesday, NBC's Today seized on accusations of anti-Muslim bias in the NFL after Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah was hit with a 15-yard penalty after appearing to pray in the end zone after scoring a touchdown against the New England Patriots Monday night. This was the same network that censored any mention of the Islamic extremism of an Oklahoma man who beheaded a co-worker on Thursday.
In the Tuesday segment, co-host Carson Daly touted people rushing to denounce the NFL:
And people on social media were all over this, saying that it was because he's a practicing Muslim. So here we go, Arsalan writes in, "Brandon Marshall gets on knees & raises hands to Jesus after TD..No penalty..Husain Abdullah bows to Mecca..15 yards!" The memes started to come in, "Tim Tebow gets a trademark, Husain gets a 15-yard penalty." Some tweets were going crazy, here's Nabila writing in, "Husain trending, nice to see people recognizing the absurdity." [Listen to the audio]
Daly then briefly noted Abdullah denying any religious motivation behind his action: "...they talked to Husain about this play and he didn't take any of the religious part of it to – to task. He said it was probably because he was excited and he just slid."
Matt Lauer chimed in: "It does seem to be a little bit of a contradiction there." Tamron Hall proclaimed: "Yeah, when you see the pictures. I mean you see the pictures of other athletes praising and thanking, you know, their person they believe in and then he does it."
Tuesday's CBS This Morning also covered the supposed "controversy," with a 29-second news brief at the end of the 7 a.m. ET hour from co-host Gayle King:
Controversy on Monday Night Football. A pass from New England's Tom Brady was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Kansas City's Husain Abdullah. He is a devout Muslim, so after he scored he knelt in prayer in the end zone. The refs gave him a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. By comparison, Tim Tebow kneeling in prayer was popular back in 2011 and he never got a penalty. So people are like, "What? That doesn't sound right."
Surprisingly, ABC's Good Morning America did not cover the penalty for Abdullah.
Here is a full transcript of the September 30 segment on Today:
7:19 AM ET
MATT LAUER: Carson's talking about a penalty from a Monday Night Football game that's getting some attention.
CARSON DALY: Did you guys hear about this? Did you see it yet?
TAMRON HALL: Yes.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Penalized for Praying?; Defining Unsportsmanlike Conduct in End Zones]
DALY: It's pretty crazy. The Chiefs all over the Patriots last night, 41 to 14. There's the moment that everybody's talking about, that's the Chiefs safety right there Husain Abdullah. He's got a pick six on Tom Brady. You saw him celebrate there. What he's doing is actually praying. He got a 15-yard penalty for that right there. Now the NFL rules does state that players are prohibited from engaging in celebrations while on the ground.And people on social media were all over this, saying that it was because he's a practicing Muslim. So here we go, Arsalan writes in, "Brandon Marshall gets on knees & raises hands to Jesus after TD..No penalty..Husain Abdullah bows to Mecca..15 yards!" The memes started to come in, "Tim Tebow gets a trademark, Husain gets a 15-yard penalty." Some tweets were going crazy, here's Nabila writing in, "Husain trending, nice to see people recognizing the absurdity."
And, you know, at the very end of the game they talked to Husain about this play and he didn't take any of the religious part of it to – to task. He said it was probably because he was excited and he just slid. Either way, this moment had a lot of people talking last night. Guys, back to you.
LAUER: It does seem to be a little bit of a contradiction there.
HALL: Yeah, when you see the pictures. I mean you see the pictures of other athletes praising and thanking, you know, their person they believe in and then he does it.
DYLAN DRYER: I'm just very upset that the Patriots lost.
LAUER: You go back to the basics there.
HALL: Let's go back to the real conversation, what's going on with Tom Brady?
LAUER: Alright, Carson, thank you very much.
