Sinclair Broadcast Group has delayed airing an episode of 'America This Week' featuring an interview with medical researcher Judy Mikovits.
Photo: Brian Cahn/Zuma PressSinclair Broadcast Group Inc., the owner of 191 television stations across the U.S., delayed the airing of an interview about the alleged origins of the coronavirus pandemic that drew widespread criticism on social media.
An episode of “America This Week,” which was slated to air over the weekend, features an interview with medical researcher Judy Mikovits, who has claimed that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, helped manufacture the coronavirus and spread it to China. Dr. Mikovits’s claims have previously attracted attention in the documentary “Plandemic,” which was earlier pulled from major online platforms including Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube.
“We hear your feedback regarding a segment on this week’s ‘America This Week’,” the company said in a series of Twitter posts on Saturday. “After further review, we have decided to delay this episode’s airing.”
“All stations have been notified not to air this [episode] and will instead be re-airing last week’s episode in its place,” Sinclair said. The company said it wasn’t aligning with the viewpoints of Dr. Mikovits or endorsing the “Plandemic” documentary, which it noted has been “widely discredited.”
The broadcaster said it would “spend the coming days bringing together other viewpoints and provide additional context,” an indication that it still plans to air a version of the episode. The broadcaster also said the episode includes an interview with “a medical expert who debunked” the claims made by Dr. Mikovits “as conspiracy theories.”
“We’re a supporter of free speech and a marketplace of ideas and viewpoints, even if incredibly controversial,” Sinclair said. A Sinclair spokesman said Sunday the company had no further comment.
Eric Bolling, the host of “America This Week,” said on Twitter, “I have always welcomed all points of view on my show and have consistently stood for free speech in my 15 years in the media,” but added he was “caught off guard by some of Dr. Mikovits’ claims. At no point did I agree with her.”
Mr. Bolling said he has immense respect for Dr. Fauci, and has invited him to appear on his program.
The segment, which was available online earlier in the week, was first reported by Media Matters, a left-leaning media website on which a video and transcript remain available. It quickly prompted a backlash on social media.
Dr. Mikovits’s attorney, Larry Klayman, who was also interviewed by Mr. Bolling in the segment, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In April, Dr. Fauci was given a security detail by the White House after being attacked online by right-wing conspiracy theorists and receiving death threats.
Baltimore-based Sinclair has grown over the years to one of the largest broadcast-station owners in the country and has become more openly vocal about political issues.
In 2018, Sinclair faced criticism when it required news anchors at its stations to read a promotion critical of the national news media, accusing media outlets of airing “fake stories,” and expressed concerns about journalists who use their platforms to “push their own personal bias and agenda.”
At the time, Sinclair said the segments weren’t part of a political agenda and were instead “an effort to differentiate our award-winning news programming from other, less reliable sources of information.”
Write to Lillian Rizzo at Lillian.Rizzo@wsj.com
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