Diane Keaton, while appearing live on “Good Morning America,” told Diane Sawyer that she’s admired her looks, particularly her lips, saying “that if she had lips like that she wouldn’t have had to work on her ‘fucking personality’ and would be married by now.” Obviously, Diane Keaton is awesome, but FCC chairman Kevin Martin is notoriously fond of attempting to punish stations that allow free spirited celebrities to slip in a few “shits” and “fucks” into their live television appearances.
After Bono expressed his opinion that winning a Golden Globe was “really, really fucking brilliant,” the FCC tried to amend the obscenity rules to include “fleeting references,” such as Bono’s. The rule was tossed out by a court.
Last year’s court decision that threw out the FCC’s policy on “fleeting references” complicates any action the commission might want to take against the stations or the network, chairman Kevin Martin told reporters.
When asked whether the FCC would take action, Martin appeared flummoxed by the court’s decision and the most recent incident of celebrity potty mouth.
“Obviously the commission’s pending litigation has impacted a whole host of issues, but I don’t know enough about the details of this to see how it would be impacted,” he said.
Diane Keaton swears on TV, FCC stammers [a wire service]
( AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)
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Another good point. What was the TV rating of this show?
An astute parent who does their best to protect their kid from smut would set up their V-chip to lock out programming with the F-bomb in it. I can’t seem to find GMA’s maturity rating, it is probably like TV-G or TV-PG. “Fuck” would probably call for a TV-MA.
Which means ABC, if they are planning to allow this in the future, should rate their show TV-MA. Sounds like someone needs to complain to the TV Parental Guidlines commission. [www.tvguidelines.org]
@SpiderJerusalem: @LikeYourFace: Please get to know a fundamental rule of forum posting: Don’t feed the troll.
A) What would Diane Keaton do with those lips that would have her married?
B) She’s how old and how wealthy?
Give me a woman with a healthy bankroll and one foot in the grave any day.
So many people with their panties in a twist because “she should have censored herself”, “she should have more sense” blah blah. You’ve never accidentally let a swear word slip out? Come on! Lighten up, it’s not like she pulled a Michael Richards or something…
Show me a kid who does not know the word ”fuck”.
I’ll wait.
@ad8bc: I didn’t say it was OK for kids to hear, I asked why it wasn’t OK for kids to hear. I personally don’t think “curse” words should be taboo. They only have that power because we give it to them.
You said that “Dianne Keaton could have presented the same idea without the F word,” but why is it the F word you have a problem with and not the idea? Does that really make sense to you? You have an issue with the arrangement of syllables she used, but none with the sentiment? You really don’t think that’s fucking insane?
And the FCC does not own the airwaves. They simply regulate them, poorly. The government should not have free reign to censor speech.
@spryte: Oh i have accidentally let one slip out.
That’s what the network censors are for.
After the “wardrobe malfunction” just about any live show ought to have a 7 second delay.
@johnperkins21: I agree they are regulated poorly.
The one thing the FCC has done well with the airwaves has been to split them up amongst the services that require them.
That’s about it.
it’s up to parents to determine the speech they want their kids to hear. Although not a kids show, a parent would hardly expect GMA to let that one slip.
@ad8bc: That’s not what the FCC was originally designed for. Also, not everyone has access to alternative airwaves.
@johnperkins21: “Cuss words” are not necessarily bad for kids to hear. They do, however, stunt their vocabulary growth. I would prefer my children understand how to communicate without saying universal words like fuck and shit. Yes, I understand “That fucking sucks” means “That is a terrible predicament, ” but if my kid continues to hear the cuss version, they will not learn how to properly communicate.
Little Timmy isn’t going to turn into a class ‘A’ idiot by hearing ‘fucking personality’. Timmy will turn into an idiot when he hears mommy calling daddy a bastard for the 500th time.
And the FCC really should have better things to do.
@stacye: Respectable argument there, and I can’t really disagree with you that using curse words as a crutch can limit a vocabulary. I can argue that by making the words taboo it actually encourages kids to use them. If they were simply viewed as another means of expression, like the difference between something being very large, enormous, or fucking huge, maybe we all as a society would use them more constructively and effectively increase our collective vocabulary.
Ha ha. Sorry. I couldn’t actually type that with a straight face. But seriously, the taboo nature of the words is what gives them the power and possibly elicits the over-use. And any kid who watches too much TV, be it vulgar in nature or not, is probably going to end up with a limited vocabulary regardless. A majority of network shows are aimed at a 4th grade intelligence level.
@martyz: GFMA, indeed
Oh, [video.google.com]
(The FCC song)
@spryte: he’s not racist, that’s what’s so insane about this.
@Tian: ?
I wasn’t trying to be funny, let alone punny.
@stacye: I have an enormous vocabulary but still curse at least a hundred times a day.
Why? Retail.
@stacye: I’ll cosign that argument.
In a weird way, I feel the same way about cursing than I do about pot smoking. I don’t think marijuana smoking, in and of itself, is a bad thing (well, besides the low sperm count, short term memory loss, carcinogens, etc). Shit, it’s a safer alternative to prescription pain medicines. I don’t smoke myself, but if someone else in the room wants to light one up, that’s fine by me.
But when kids smoke pot, it stunts their emotional growth, because they don’t learn to deal with stress or manage conflicts.
Also, using bastardized curse words bothers me as much as actual obscenities. If you say, “heck” or shit, “H-E-double hockey sticks”, it’s pretty fucking obvious what you mean. Just come out and say it! It’s not the time or the place? Well, why are you expressing blasphemous thoughts? It doesn’t make you a better person because you found a way to express a blasphemous thought without actually saying it. It makes you blasphemous AND disingenuous.
And I never understood commenters and message board posters who censor themselves, like “f*ck” on uncensored websites. It’s one thing if the site’s software filters out certain words, but otherwise, why? Again, it’s obvious what you’re saying. If you’re afraid of offending someone or being though of as obscene, why the fuck are you saying it to begin with?
Oh, and Slate had a piece on the history of “fuck” a while back: [www.slate.com]
I think Eric Cartman said it best: fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck.
It’s a word. Little Johnny/Billy/etc. can say it and it won’t warp his fragile little mind. Words only have meaning derived from social context. If we don’t go fucking nuts on a child who says fuck (because we find it offensive — there is nothing intrinsically wrong with ANY word…cunt included. And I can say that, because I have an umbrella, as any NMTB fans know!) there will be no reason to repeat said word and it won’t matter if the word fuck is said pre-watershed, post-watershed, on radio, tv, or in print.
It’s a word!
Fuck!
So Janet Jackson’s aging, funky-nipple-ring-wearing breast plays peek-a-boo and CBS never hears the end of it. Yet Annie Hall curses like Andrew Dice Clay and ABC will probably get a pass from the FCC?
Right.
So Infinity Broadcasting was fined for millions by the FCC when Howard Stern said “Lesbians full of lust” (Yes, that was what the initial FCC complaint was filed for), but ABC gets away with the F bomb with zero consequences?
Now I am fine with swearing. I curse all day long. What I am against is hypocricy, and double standards.
@ad8bc: If you are so astute you’d realize your kids get worse words at school, in a worse context. I really love and hate America right now, we have people razing pussies.
A NSFW language lesson:
[www.youtube.com]
@joellevand: EXACTLY! I’m a parent. My child has said shit, all of one time. We didn’t make a big deal about it, and she hasn’t said it since. I know parents that do make a big deal about it, and their kids cus like sailors.
@Trauma_Hound: I really don’t have a problem with people razing pussies, though I do prefer trimmed.
@stacye: Uh, actually the FCC was originally designed for splitting up and assigning frequencies and licensing people. By licensing them, it also set the rules. The FCC was actually started as the Federal Radio Commission (changed names in 1934 to the Federal Communications Commission).
As a ham radio operator, I am subject to the same rules. Upon application for my license, I had to learn what the rules were and accept them — it is a form of contract, and I can be fined (up to $10,000) by using them on the airwaves myself. If I wanted to swear on the airwaves, I’d stick to CB (although still illegal, not enforced).
@Trauma_Hound: You can also teach your children that those words are not appropriate and that those who use them on a regular basis are classless pussies themselves. Sure, they will encounter that kind of language… but it is for grown ups like myself, and you I suppose, to use.
Hey, if you want to teach your children to not have any class, then go for it all you fucking want.
@Trauma_Hound: That’s what the bar of soap is for.
It’s more fun than not making a big deal about it.
Want to make sure they don’t say it again? Rub it in their teeth.
I saw last year’s court hearing where the FCC’s attorney got ripped a new one by the court. The ruling slapped the FCC up one side and down the other and told them that the court didn’t want to see this matter again.
The gist of the ruling was that the FCC couldn’t make up the rules as it goes and slap a broadcaster with hundred of thousands of dollars in fines whenever it felt like it and decide what’s okay and what’s not on the fly and after the fact. It was an entertaining hour of television to say the least.
Howard Stern, oddly enough, never mentioned the ruling. Odd, considering that he is due some major refunds.
One of the most amusing parts of the hearing was watching a Justice of the Appelate Court swearing and then asking the FCC attorney if the evening news could play the tape of him uttering those words. Mr. FCC just stood there, not knowing whether to shit or go blind, speachless and dumbfounded. Excellent television.
Since there are no published rules, and not wanting to wind up in front of the court again after this ruling, I don’t think the FCC dares tempt fate by fining ABC. At this point it would be kind of like arresting George W. for being an idiot; he’s guilty… but it ain’t a crime.
FCC should issue the “F-credits” to all stations. Using any one of the “seven words” would use up one F-credit. Make the credits tradeable, so that the tight-butthole stations can sell them to the more fun ones.
Slapping stations with ridiculous fines for stupid shit like cuss words cripples creativity. Many radio DJs complain that it’s getting out of hand – they can’t say anything without pissing-off the FCC.
@spryte: people paid to see him, in an adult setting. Was he wrong, sure. Should he have been censored in that setting, no.
B won’t somebody think of the fucking children?
the children really shouldn’t be fucking, if they are indeed children…
I wonder if this means that NASCAR has to re-imburse Dale Earnhardt Jr for the “fleeting reference” to “shit” in his comments after winning the Talladega race a couple years ago. The only reason he was fined was that NASCAR and Fox shit their pants at the FCC fining them for letting Dale Jr say the s-word after winning a race.
BTW, it was when a reporter asked him something about how does this make him feel considering all the wins Dale Sr had at the track. Dale Jr said something like, “What I did don’t mean shit….” Referring to his accomplishments can’t hold a candle to his father’s accomplishments.
Well, there are a couple of things being jammed up together here, so here goes:
The FCC doesn’t just go around slapping fines on people who use dirty words on the airwaves. Indecency enforcement is 100 percent complaint-driven. No consumer complaint, no enforcement action, no fine. So as far as the FCC is officially concerned, this hasn’t even happened yet. If somebody complains, then the Enforcement Bureau wheels will start to turn — very, very slowly.
And the “fleeting indecency” case that got the policy change bounced out in court didn’t involve fines at all. The Fox appeal was over the ruling that language used on two separate awards-show appearances by Nicole Richie and Cher was indecent, but the FCC didn’t issue fines because the incidents took place after the Bono flap that led to the policy change on fleeting or “slip of the tongue” indecency. It was at the Golden Globes (not the Oscars) that Bono said the award was “fucking brilliant,” and the FCC first said that wasn’t indecent, and then, after Congressional freakouts, changed its mind and said it was. Nobody was fined over that, either.
Congress being what it is, there are bipartisan bills pending to specifically allow the FCC (a change from earlier versions of the bill that would’ve required it) to set a policy that single words or images can trigger indecency enforcement. This has as much to do with Janet Jackson’s breast, of course, as it does with Bono’s fucking brilliance.
And, if we’re talking about fleeting indecency, nobody owes Howard Stern’s employers even a buck on that score. The incidents Viacom/Infinity were fined over don’t fit into the “slip of the tongue” category, which is all this policy change involved. The court in the Fox case didn’t get into the FCC’s right to enforce indecency rules, just its right to arbitrarily decide that broadcasters are liable for fleeting, accidental, and tongue-slippage-type incidents.
As far as trends, there wasn’t a single indecency fine levied against any broadcaster last year. The hysterics have turned to media consolidation these days instead.
And, having written an epic, I’ll shut up now.
Obscenity laws are absurd now, especially with the TV rating system and TVs now being able to block particular ratings/channels. Now that the govt has mandated these additions to the TVs, they should get out of the content and make parents responsible for ensuring their kids don’t watch inappropriate content.