Earlier today, Garry Kasparov accused NBC Sports of pushing Putin propaganda. This latest downplay of decades of communism probably won’t make Kasparov change his mind about the network that’s airing the Sochi Olympics.

Many viewers of the opening ceremony couldn’t believe their ears when the narrator referred to decades of Soviet-era communism as a “pivotal experiment”:

According to that montage, the millions killed under Stalin were part of a "pivotal experiment." — Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) February 8, 2014

NBC's narrator referred to communism as a "pivotal experiment"-Interesting word choice to describe an era that caused so much misery & death — Jamie Brooks (@jb_brooks3) February 8, 2014

"Pivotal experiment?" That's what Soviet communism was @NBC? Is that what the gulags were too? Experiments? — Matt Cover (@MattCover) February 8, 2014

I don't know if I'd refer to Communism as a "Pivotal experiment" but okay Olympics — Hannah Dannewitz (@HannahDannewitz) February 8, 2014

#1917 Soviet murder of millions & totalitarian communism = "pivotal experiment." #nbcolympics opening feature segment. #sochi2014. — J. Christian Adams (@ElectionLawCtr) February 8, 2014

@ElectionLawCtr @instapundit Well, you cannot make an omelet without a 'pivotal experiment'. — Andrew Stuttaford (@AStuttaford) February 8, 2014

Wait, wait, wait, wait wait. The NBC intro for the Sochi Olympics called communism a "pivotal experiment"?!?! COMMUNISM? My God. — H (@Tark31) February 8, 2014

The USSR was a "pivotal experiment"? Dang, @NBCOlympics, that's rather offensively euphemistic. I prefer Reagan: "Evil Empire." #Sochi2014 — Andrew Ledbetter (@dr_ledbetter) February 8, 2014



https://twitter.com/apstevens6/status/431948761707728896

Looking forward to NBC's coverage of the next Olympics in Germany and that nation's "pivotal experiment" in finding a "final solution". — Drew McCoy (@DrewMTips) February 8, 2014

Wow. There’s downplaying, and then there’s downplaying. Did Putin get to personally edit NBC’s scripts?

What’s next for NBC?

Over/under on when NBC calls Obamacare a pivotal experiment after it fails and they're pushing for single payer? — Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) February 8, 2014

Update: Here’s a Vine video of the “pivotal experiments” narration:

Yes, the NBC Olympic coverage referred to Communism as "one of modern history's pivotal experiments" https://t.co/nJALwWNYNN — TLC (@TracyLConnors) February 8, 2014

***

Read all of Twitchy’s Olympics coverage here.