A TV advertisement by Sen. Marco Rubio's Reclaim America PAC criticizing an anti-Christian drag group being honored by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday was rejected by the network without explanation.
As part of their Pride Night festivities, the Dodgers are set to honor the Los Angeles chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a nonprofit performance group that features drag queens dressed as nuns, with their Community Hero Award.
A Rubio adviser said Reclaim America PAC reserved the 30-second in-game spot for the ad to play during the Dodgers' game against the San Francisco Giants on Spectrum SportsNet LA, Fox News Digital reported Thursday. The adviser said the ad was delivered to the network on Tuesday but was rejected without explanation.
"The Dodgers are honoring an anti-Catholic hate group as community heroes, but they're afraid of airing an ad showing these so-called sisters out in the community," Rubio told Fox News Digital. "It tells you everything you need to know about the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and the media.
"They are no longer demanding tolerance; they now promote intolerance and even hatred of Christianity."
The rejected ad shows clips of the group, including footage of an individual depicting Jesus Christ attached to a crucifix with another person using it as a stripper pole.
"Its members have dressed for years in perverse imitations of Catholic nuns, they've burned the Pope in effigy, and they've performed sick parodies of the Eucharist, the most sacred of all Christian ceremonies in the Catholic faith, in which the body and blood of Christ is replaced with a condom," Rubio said while narrating the ad, which he posted on his Twitter account.
Criticism over the Dodgers' invitation to the group by various Catholic organizations started early last month, and the Dodgers on May 5 withdrew the invitation. They quickly did an about-face after being criticized by LGBTQ+ groups and elected officials, and on May 22 publicly apologized to the group and reinvited it to the game.
Rubio and Reclaim America PAC aren't the only voices of criticism about Friday's event. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called it "blasphemy" in a statement released Monday.
"This year, on June 16 — the day of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — a professional baseball team has shockingly chosen to honor a group whose lewdness and vulgarity in mocking our Lord, His Mother, and consecrated women cannot be overstated," the statement read. "This is not just offensive and painful to Christians everywhere; it is blasphemy."
KABC-TV in Los Angeles reported L.A. Archbishop José Gomez said he will dedicate a Mass on Friday "for healing due to the harm caused by the Dodgers decision to honor a group that intentionally denigrates and profanes the Christian faith."
Newsmax reached out to the Dodgers and Charter Communications, who co-own Spectrum SportsNet LA, for comment on why the ad was rejected. Newsmax also reached out to Major League Baseball for comment on criticism over the group being honored by the Dodgers.
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