Censorship or an honest mistake?
During Sunday’s telecast of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Cosmos,” Oklahoma City’s Fox affiliate KOKH cut away from a segment discussing evolution to air a promo of the local news.
“We are newcomers to the Cosmos,” Tyson started to explain in the clip. “Our own story only begins on the last night of the cosmic year. It’s 9:45 on New Year’s Eve…” At this point, KOKH cut from the program to a commercial for the evening news.
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While the promo aired, viewers missed Tyson discussing how humans evolved.
“Three and a half million years ago, our ancestors — your and mine left these traces,” Tyson said, and gestured towards footprints. “We stood up and parted ways from them. Once we were standing on two feet, our eyes were no longer fixated on the ground. Now, we were free to look up and wonder.”
After a “Cosmos” fan uploaded video on YouTube and pointed out the awkward edit, KOKH Fox 25 released a statement on Twitter, disputing any nefarious intentions.”Sunday, during @COSMOSonTV, a local news promo was aired over a portion of COSMOS content. This was an operator error & we regret the error,” KOKH tweeted Wednesday.
TheWrap reached out to Neil deGrasse Tyson and KOKH for comment.
Sunday, during @COSMOSonTV, a local news promo was aired over a portion of COSMOS content. This was an operator error & we regret the error.
– KOKH FOX 25 (@OKCFOX) March 12, 2014
Watch KOKH’s broadcast below:
Watch the full Cosmos segment: