The FCC and @#& ?!

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Sunday, June 25, 2006

Bono won "Best Original Song" at the 2003 Golden Globes and expressed his delight with a word that the FCC deemed indecent. In response, the commission warned that "we take a new approach to profanity" and that there would be no more fine-free, obscenity-modified brilliance in Golden Globes to come.

From an FCC order adopted March 3, 2004:

We recognize NBC's argument that the "F-Word" here was used "as an intensifier.'' Nevertheless, we believe that, given the core meaning of the "F-Word,'' any use of that word or a variation, in any context, inherently has a sexual connotation, and therefore falls within the first prong of our indecency definition. . . .

The "F-Word'' is one of the most vulgar, graphic and explicit descriptions of sexual activity in the English language. Its use invariably invokes a coarse sexual image. The use of the "F-Word'' here, on a nationally telecast awards ceremony, was shocking and gratuitous. In this regard, NBC does not claim that there was any political, scientific or other independent value of use of the word here, or any other factors to mitigate its offensiveness. . . .

By our action today, broadcasters are on clear notice that, in the future, they will be subject to potential enforcement action for any broadcast of the "F-Word'' or a variation thereof in situations such as that here.