Reuters (via) reports that NBC has rejected a TV commercial for Shut Up and Sing, a film documenting the furor over the Dixie Chicks’ criticism of President George W. Bush in the run up to the 2003 Iraq war. Ads for the documentary were also refused by the smaller CW network, although local affiliates of all five major broadcasters, including NBC and CW, ran promotional spots for the film in New York and Los Angeles where the film opened on Friday.

The film’s distributor, the Weinstein Co., seized on the rejection of its spots as evidence of political censorship by NBC and CW and said it was “exploring taking legal action.”

The studio provided media outlets copies of “clearance” reports from NBC’s standards and practices department bearing handwritten notations stating the ads were deemed unacceptable because “they are disparaging of President Bush.”

“It’s a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America,” studio co-owner Harvey Weinstein said in a statement.

The Dixie Chicks are currently on tour in Canada and were unavailable for comment.

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