No FCC Action vs. Bono Over Naughty Word

| No Comments

10.8.03 - Reuters

By Brooks Boliek

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - The Federal Communications Commission decided that U2 singer Bono's utterance of an obscenity during this year's broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards did not constitute a violation of the nation's broadcast indecency rules.

On Monday, the government agency's Enforcement Bureau rejected complaints by the Parents Television Council and others that Bono's use of the phrase "this is really, really f---ing brilliant" failed to meet the test for indecency. The bureau ruled that Bono's indiscretion was so "fleeting and isolated" that it did not run afoul of the rules.

The commission defines indecent speech as language that, in context, depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities or organs in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards. As a threshold matter, the material aired during NBC's Golden Globes telecast doesn't fall into that category, the bureau ruled.

"The word 'f---ing' my be crude and offensive, but, in the context presented here, did not describe sexual or excretory organs or activities," the bureau wrote. "Rather, the performer used the word 'f---ing' as an adjective or expletive to emphasize an exclamation. Indeed, in similar circumstances, we have found that offensive language used as an insult rather than as a description of sexual or excretory activities or organs is not within the scope of the commission's prohibition of indecent program content."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Leave a comment

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jonathan published on October 8, 2003 3:15 AM.

Bono Urges Bush to Keep His Promises to Fight AIDS in Africa was the previous entry in this blog.

Bono, Beyonce Knowles & Others To Play AIDS Benefit In South Africa is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Monthly Archives

Pages

OpenID accepted here Learn more about OpenID