Minuteman National Blog

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NBC’S LAW & ORDER DEFAMES MINUTEMEN
WITH ACCUSATIONS OF MURDER

LETTER SENT DEMANDING NETWORK PULL PROMOS AND EPISODE SCHEDULED TO AIR TONIGHT

TOMBSTONE, AZ (November 16, 2005) – Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Inc., (“MCDC”), has sent a letter to the National Broadcasting Company (“NBC”) demanding the network immediately cease and desist airing defamatory promotions for tonight’s scheduled broadcast of Law & Order and that NBC pull the episode, titled “New York Minute,” that accuses the Minutemen of murder.

The letter was faxed to the office of NBC President Jeffrey Zucker this morning after the legal department for NBC failed to respond to previous communications.

Simcox also demands that NBC remove all mention of the Minutemen from the episode before it is aired at a later date and that NBC broadcast on its network an apology to the Minutemen as many times and in the same time slots as the offending promotions were aired.

The promotion NBC has been airing on its network for the Law & Order episode describes “twelve immigrants, cooked alive in a boiling hot truck” and asks, “was it murder, or Minutemen protecting our borders?” as the word Minutemen is flashed on the screen.

In the promotion, NBC promises the episode “will enrage America.”

Simcox issued the following statement:

“The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Inc., and its sister organization, the Minuteman Project, Inc., are the recognized founders and leaders of the civilian border watch and day labor site observation movement. The public and the media routinely refer to our members as ‘Minutemen’ and ‘Minuteman’ when talking about the issues of border security and illegal immigration.

“By publicly and repeatedly accusing the Minutemen of murder on its network, and by its promise to ‘enrage America,’ NBC is inciting the public which will likely result in acts of violence against members of the Minutemen and their families.

“It is outrageous and unacceptable that NBC is using November sweeps to pump up its ratings and profits by smearing the Minutemen as murderers and placing our members’ safety in jeopardy in its attempt to ‘enrage America.’

“There has not been one incident of a member of our organizations committing acts of violence on our patrols, let alone murder. To the contrary, our members have rescued hundreds of men, women and children abandoned to die in the desert wilderness by their human traffickers.

“We are awaiting a response from NBC.”