The winter Olympic games in Communist China are on track to be the least-watch Olympics in history. Friday night’s coverage on NBC, USA Network and Peacock averaged 12.8 million viewers, significantly down from the 27.8 million average in Pyeongchang four years ago, according to the Associated Press. On Thursday, only 8 million people tuned in to primetime Olympic coverage, less than the previous low of 9 million for the Tokyo Games. Mainstream media types, not to mention NBC executives, are trying to blame COVID for lower viewership. This would make sense if the Olympics were an in-person-only event. But it’s not. The vast majority of Americans watch Olympics on television and streaming services. Why would COVID affect the ability of the American people to tune in from the comfort and safety of their homes? I’ve heard others claim that the time difference is discouraging Americans from tuning in. This makes as much sense as the COVID excuse. The Olympics are frequently in time zones on the other side of the world. Americans have always either tuned in at odd hours or been content to watch taped events. If Olympic fans wanted to watch the games, China’s time zone wouldn’t be an issue. The fact of the matter is that Americans don’t want to watch the Olympics. Why? Because they aren’t interested in watching Americans participate in Communist Chinese propaganda. SEE ALSO: Lebron James Looks the Other Way on China’s Human Rights Abuses. Here’s Why I Never Will. They don’t want to watch reporters manhandled by Chinese thugs for filming in an “unapproved location.” They don’t want to watch Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai revoke her sexual assault accusation against a high-ranking Chinese official after being arrested and likely tortured. They don’t want to watch the Chinese celebrate American-born Olympic skier Eileen Gu for competing for China. They don’t want to watch the Canadian and Russian women’s hockey teams don N-95 masks in the country that gave us the COVID-19 pandemic. They don’t want to watch American companies fund genocide by sponsoring the Olympic games and then try to hide those advertisements from the American people. They don’t want to watch NBC refuse to run advertisements from Enes Kanter because the ad criticizes the genocidal Chinese state. NBC refused to air my Olympics ad with @EnesFreedom unless we censor U.S. corporate logos of the Genocide Games sponsors.We won’t let them silence us. Here’s the ad that NBC and the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t want you to see 👇 pic.twitter.com/0y35Z6KdZC— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) February 5, 2022 SEE ALSO: Communists, Unite! UC Berkeley Partnership with China Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone Ultimately, they don’t want to watch the self-aggrandizement of a tyrannical country that has killed and imprisoned millions, monitors and controls billions, and seeks to unseat the United States as the dominant power on the world stage. I’m glad U.S. diplomats have boycotted the Olympics, but we should have gone farther. We should have boycotted the Communist Genocide Games entirely. Athletes train hard for the Olympics, but some things are more important than sport. There is one silver lining: while athletes are still competing, American viewers are making their voices heard loud and clear.
