Greetings. Last night, NBC and some affiliated cable networks simulcast a hurricane relief concert, live to the East Coast. When rapper Kanye West made some unscripted, arguably true anti-Bush remarks related to the hurricane disaster response, his words were heard live by the audience.

While a several-seconds delay was in place, the operator didn't delete those comments at that time since they were not obscenities.

However, for the broadcast of the recorded version of the show for the West Coast feed, Kanye's remarks were deleted.

It appears that NBC isn't only afraid of upsetting the religious right's obscenity patrol, but now feels it necessary to delete all "uncomfortable" comments from live events whenever possible.

NBC claims that the deletion was made since the remarks were a departure from the script. But I wonder -- if there had been similar emotional ad libs that were supportive of Bush, would they have received a similar axe?

--Lauren--