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CBS bleeps Janet Jackson on Letterman...
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Posted by: disco

...to remove her using the word "Jesus".

http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp...?itemId=9969731
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20.../D81KN4BG0.html

HUH?? I've heard worse on NYPD Blue & ER! :rolleyes:

Posted by: daveyg013

I don't know where I heard it before, but they've been bleeping the words Jesus and God a lot in the past year or so when used in expressions such as "Jesus Christ!" and "God dammit". Apparently the freedom of speech doesn't allow you to use the Lord's name in vain.

Posted by: LooseWiring

According to the censors there are few words are words worse than the dreaded J, C, and G words.

Ever notice that if someone says "God Damn" that God is the word that's bleeped?

Posted by: YCantAngieRead

Not at all related, really, but I remember Tammy Faye Baker Messner saying that she was bleeped on a Christian show for saying "crap". That made me laugh.

I've always thought the selective bleeping of words such as...well, I can't say it here but it ends in "-hole", they always seem to bleep the less offensive part, at least in my opinion.

Posted by: oski87

quote:
Originally posted by daveyg013
I don't know where I heard it before, but they've been bleeping the words Jesus and God a lot in the past year or so when used in expressions such as "Jesus Christ!" and "God dammit". Apparently the freedom of speech doesn't allow you to use the Lord's name in vain.

Freedom of speech also= freedom to CHOOSE what gets said on your private non-news entertainment programming....

Posted by: ThomasDrew

quote:
Originally posted by oski87
Freedom of speech also= freedom to CHOOSE what gets said on your private non-news entertainment programming....

You're absolutely right.....and I can choose to say F--K! network programming and their morality police who, under the direction of Michael Powell, are attempting to sanitize everything that gets beamed into my living room.

Maybe, instead of spending time and resources on censorship, perhaps they ought to earmark those funds for (quality) program development???

The only thing I find "offensive" on television is the awful content.

Posted by: zaknafein

quote:
Originally posted by YCantAngieRead
Not at all related, really, but I remember Tammy Faye Baker Messner saying that she was bleeped on a Christian show for saying "crap". That made me laugh.

I've always thought the selective bleeping of words such as...well, I can't say it here but it ends in "-hole", they always seem to bleep the less offensive part, at least in my opinion.

That one I never understood. You can say ass, and you can say hole, but you can't say *******. Huh?

Edit: It's the same way here too!

Posted by: itsmeitsmeitsme

So anything should go on network television???

Posted by: Fleegle

quote:
Originally posted by itsmeitsmeitsme
So anything should go on network television???

As long as it's properly rated, yes. The V-Chip is installed in every TV Tuner built in the last decade or so. Satellite receivers, TVs, HI-Def recievers, etc. If you don't want the kiddies to see something, blovk it out with the chip. I'd even agree with making a totally seperate rating for shown broadcast live so that nothing gets slipped in by mistake that doesn't meet the rating.

Posted by: HTH

I find it interesting that, judging how they edit the movie Real Genius for TV, it is apparently not OK to impersonate Jesus, but it is OK to impersonate God.

Posted by: disco

About two years ago, Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne were on Jay Leno. Ozzy was doing his best to keep the censors busy, but the F-bomb made it past them ONE TIME to air in the Eastern/Central time zones. I never heard ANYTHING happen to NBC, especially since it was NOT live. Man, what a different world it is today... :rolleyes:

BTW, from what I recall, it was re-edited for the West coast..

Posted by: jmoak

quote:
Originally posted by oski87
Freedom of speech also= freedom to CHOOSE what gets said on your private non-news entertainment programming....

quote:
the conversation in which "Jesus" was bleeped, according to MyWay.com
Jackson repeatedly told Letterman she didn't want to talk about the (superbowl) incident.

"You're going to make me relive this?" she asked. "I want to put all that behind me. I truly do."

She told the audience she was "sure you're sick of hearing about this."

"I'm not so sure they are sick of hearing about it," Letterman replied.

Pressing for further details, Letterman said it looked to Super Bowl viewers that the breast-baring was intentional.

"Oh, Jesus" Jackson said, according to an unedited tape of their conversation.

"Oh, Jesus" is verbotten on CBS? Is it because Janet said it? I realise they have a right to bleep anything they want, but...
:confused:

Posted by: headroll

quote:
Originally posted by HTH
I find it interesting that, judging how they edit the movie Real Genius for TV, it is apparently not OK to impersonate Jesus, but it is OK to impersonate God.

I believe I have mentioned this before but I remember a network airing of 'The Breakfast Club' that edited 'Eat My Shorts' to be 'Eat My Socks'.

-Roll

Posted by: oski87

quote:
Originally posted by ThomasDrew
Maybe, instead of spending time and resources on censorship, perhaps they ought to earmark those funds for (quality) program development???

We have hit on a pet-peeve topic of mine. Yes, the FCC does excercise some (and a very valid arguement could be made that they use too much) some authourity over broadcast TV content, and does do a bit of censoring.

BUT...

MOST of what you hear on this topic (including, it seems, this thread) is networks CHOOSING what to air and what to bleep, not show, whatever. When the network makes this choice, it is not censorship, it is a choice. Is it a dumb choice? Maybe. Probably. But please- censorship is a very strong word, and this aint it!

Posted by: rseligman

George Carlin was on Bill Maher's show a couple of weeks ago, and did a little rant on the hypocrisy of language censoring in the media. He observed that you can print "f--k", and whenever that word is bleeped out of a broadcast, you can usually hear the "f" and "k" sounds as the bleep begins and ends. His point being that it's clearly OK for you to know what word was being said, but it's forbidden for you to actually hear/read the word itself.

Which, he notes, serves no rational purpose.

Posted by: rseligman

quote:
Originally posted by oski87
We have hit on a pet-peeve topic of mine. Yes, the FCC does excercise some (and a very valid arguement could be made that they use too much) some authourity over broadcast TV content, and does do a bit of censoring.

BUT...

MOST of what you hear on this topic (including, it seems, this thread) is networks CHOOSING what to air and what to bleep, not show, whatever. When the network makes this choice, it is not censorship, it is a choice. Is it a dumb choice? Maybe. Probably. But please- censorship is a very strong word, and this aint it!

This is a pet peeve of mine, as well. However, you should note that a valid definition of censorship is "the actions or practices of censors". Networks have censors, and so it's appropriate to say that they practice censorship.

However, I agree that people often confuse private and government censorship. Private organizations can censor whatever they want, and that is a valid and encouraging exercise of American freedoms. Censorship by the government, however, is the one that is vile, offensive, and threatening.

Posted by: dswallow

quote:
Originally posted by oski87
We have hit on a pet-peeve topic of mine. Yes, the FCC does excercise some (and a very valid arguement could be made that they use too much) some authourity over broadcast TV content, and does do a bit of censoring.

BUT...

MOST of what you hear on this topic (including, it seems, this thread) is networks CHOOSING what to air and what to bleep, not show, whatever. When the network makes this choice, it is not censorship, it is a choice. Is it a dumb choice? Maybe. Probably. But please- censorship is a very strong word, and this aint it!

Well, you're right and you're wrong.

Yes, the networks are choosing to edit content.

But they're choosing it because of the very unclear line in the sand drawn by the FCC with regards to actual censorship requirements.

That's why this issue in its entirety is still referred to as censorship. Without the FCC involvement in censorship and associated rules/regulations, we wouldn't be facing this problem much at all.

Posted by: devdogaz

I, for one, am glad to hear that CBS made the choice to bleep out that particular phrase. I find that, and the taking of God's name in vain, far more offensive than most other so-called swear words that get bleeped on a regular basis.

quote:
Originally posted by zaknafein
That one I never understood. You can say ass, and you can say hole, but you can't say *******. Huh?

Why is it that a--hole is considered worse than just ass? Why is "hole" the part that gets bleeped? That makes no sense.

quote:
Originally posted by ThomasDrew
You're absolutely right.....and I can choose to say F--K! network programming and their morality police who, under the direction of Michael Powell, are attempting to sanitize everything that gets beamed into my living room.

Maybe, instead of spending time and resources on censorship, perhaps they ought to earmark those funds for (quality) program development???

The only thing I find "offensive" on television is the awful content.

Isn't it bad enough that the government already uses our tax money to fund programming on PBS? Now you want them to use our tax money to develop quality programs? Since when is it a basic fundamental American right to have quality programming on our televisions?

Posted by: dswallow

quote:
Originally posted by devdogaz
Since when is it a basic fundamental American right to have quality programming on our televisions?

This has happened ever since people who think taking "God's name" in vain should be bleeped took control in Washington.

Funny that.

Posted by: jamesbobo

Here is my worst case example of a bleep. I listen to Howard Stern on radio and watch his E show. Quite a while ago, he had several people take a lie detector test. The person giving the test was probably in his 60's. Howard would tell him what to ask the person taking the test and he would repeat the question (they were not in the same room). Howard told him to ask "did you ever sleep with a black man." Instead, he asked "did you ever sleep with a colored person". The word colored was bleeped on the E show. If a person didn't hear the radio show they might think he said something worse than what he did. Also, due to the persons age, he probably considered colored to be a normal description because at one time it was. After all, the C in NAACP stands for colored, doesn't it?
Did E have the right to bleep it, yes. Did it make much sense, no.

Posted by: aadam101

It's Bush's America!!

Posted by: oski87

quote:
Originally posted by devdogaz
I, for one, am glad to hear that CBS made the choice to bleep out that particular phrase. I find that, and the taking of God's name in vain, far more offensive than most other so-called swear words that get bleeped on a regular basis.

Ah, good. Another thing to get me worked up. The conventional popular meaning attributed to 'taking the Lord's name in vain' is one of my favorite mis-translations of the bible. The warning by Moses was against invoking the name of god for some nefarious purpose, for self promotion, etc. This obsession by the religious right (no offense meant devdogaz, if this isnt you...) over someone blurting out a name is quite misguided, imo

Posted by: cwoody222

Can someone answer me this. And I'm not being argumentative, I really want to know.

How come my local PBS station is allowed to air Coupling (UK) every Saturday night at 11pm? This past episode mentioned the "f- me fork". There was no bleep.

I assume part of CBS's rationale to bleep "Jesus" was to not get fined by the FCC. How can PBS air the dreaded F word (earlier than Letterman's timeslot, even) and that's OK?

Isn't the whole argument that the airwaves are "public" so rules to not offend must be adheared to? Isn't PBS on these public airwaves? Aren't they even MORE public than network TV?

Seriously...what's the rationale here?

As a side-note, I watched Letterman today AFTER reading about the bleep. Was it an actual bleep or did they just cover it with silence? I didn't even notice. I wouldn't have known anything unless I read about it. But it's still stupid that they did it.

(and no, I wasn't watching a West Coast feed)

Posted by: faerie

What on earth is the world (well, apparently just the US - home of free? my ass) coming to?

I agree with the person that posted that the reason there is such a problem here is that there are no strict guidelines. But I'm not sure that guidelines are easily reached either. I have no problem with someone using Jesus or God Damn or any other type of phrase like that. I actually have more a problem with bitch being allowed except if it were used as a reference to a female canine (which I've never actually heard on TV). Different people have different boundaries. Then again, i'm still dumbfounded that a single female breast shown on TV has caused all this uproar.

Posted by: Element

Why is a bleep on Letterman such a big deal? Just because it was Janet Jackson? They bleep on Jimmy Kimmel Live like a minimum of 5 times per show. In fact, an F even got through the censors the other night, but no one talks about that. I guess I'm just the only one who actually watches that show.

Posted by: dswallow

quote:
Originally posted by cwoody222
How come my local PBS station is allowed to air Coupling (UK) every Saturday night at 11pm? This past episode mentioned the "f- me fork". There was no bleep.

Because nobody watches PBS?

Because the prudes who complain about such things are the ones who think TV is a cheap babysitter and don't have a clue how to raise their kids themselves?

Because the people who watch PBS are simply more intelligent and can comprehend the concept of speech and context and specific words aren't much of a big deal?

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?

Who knows.

:p

Posted by: holee

CBS bleeped out Jesus? Didn't they just air a movie about Jesus the other night? I didn't see them bleeping out the title.

Posted by: cwoody222

Oh, come on Doug... I thought for sure you'd know!

Posted by: jmoak

quote:
Originally posted by Element
Why is a bleep on Letterman such a big deal? Just because it was Janet Jackson?

That was my question!!!! ..and why did they bleep(blank, actually) the name Jesus! Is that considered taking the lord's name in vain? If so, I know a quite a few old baptist ladies that must be going straight to hell!
I think dswallow hit it with "they're choosing it because of the very unclear line in the sand drawn by the FCC with regards to actual censorship requirements."

...and that's just friggin' sad.

quote:
also posted by Element
They bleep on Jimmy Kimmel Live like a minimum of 5 times per show. In fact, an F even got through the censors the other night, but no one talks about that. I guess I'm just the only one who actually watches that show.

Heck, it's not shown in my area. Not even once!

Posted by: ThomasDrew

quote:
Originally posted by devdogaz
I, for one, am glad to hear that CBS made the choice to bleep out that particular phrase. I find that, and the taking of God's name in vain, far more offensive than most other so-called swear words that get bleeped on a regular basis.

Why is it that a--hole is considered worse than just ass? Why is "hole" the part that gets bleeped? That makes no sense.

Isn't it bad enough that the government already uses our tax money to fund programming on PBS? Now you want them to use our tax money to develop quality programs? Since when is it a basic fundamental American right to have quality programming on our televisions?

You misunderstood.

What I'm saying is that it obviously costs additional time and resources (financial or other) to "be on guard" whenever the networks feel there might be something offensive and therefore must run on a delay. I'd rather see the networks put that money (generated by advertisers, not the taxpayers) to good use in developing quality programming.

Janet Jackson has never, over the course of a long and illustrious career, been the type of performer to "drop the F-bomb" during a sit-down interview. Why on earth CBS was waiting with baited breath to catch the suddenly "bad girl" Jackson is beyond me. The girl barely speaks over a whisper and rarely has anything offensive to say to anyone.

She screwed up at the Super Bowl. We get it already....

It was the exception, not the rule.

Censoring (and yes, that's EXACTLY what it was) the phrase "Oh Jesus" is ridiculous. Simply absurd.

Posted by: ThomasDrew

quote:
Originally posted by Fleegle
As long as it's properly rated, yes. The V-Chip is installed in every TV Tuner built in the last decade or so. Satellite receivers, TVs, HI-Def recievers, etc. If you don't want the kiddies to see something, blovk it out with the chip. I'd even agree with making a totally seperate rating for shown broadcast live so that nothing gets slipped in by mistake that doesn't meet the rating.

I agree. Anything and everything should be fair game, provided it is in the proper context....(No, I don't think Lou Dobbs should be using profanity or that Greta Van Susteren should be hosting her show topless...LOL)

Seriously, why even bother with the V-Chips anymore if parents are too lazy to utilize the technology in their television sets? What's the point??

Posted by: dswallow

I think all televisions should come with the V-chip locked to G-rated material only.

And after the purchaser passes a test that shows they can exist and function in the real world, they're given the unlock code for it.

Posted by: EchoBravo

quote:
This has happened ever since people who think taking "God's name" in vain should be bleeped took control in Washington.

Funny that.

and...

I think all televisions should come with the V-chip locked to G-rated material only.

And after the purchaser passes a test that shows they can exist and function in the real world, they're given the unlock code for it.

Best posts on this forum in a long time, my friend.

At least somebody gets it.

Posted by: disco

quote:
Originally posted by EchoBravo
Best posts on this forum in a long time, my friend.

At least somebody gets it.

Thanks for that link...I now have a renewed sense of respect for Roeper. :):up:

It looks like the networks are finally realizing that there's an invention to help them...
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....storyID=4703529

Posted by: smak

Yah, that was a good article from Roeper.

The thing I don't understand is the whole Bono F word fiasco.

It doesn't even matter in what context you use a word.

Saying something is f'ing brilliant is not the same as using the word by it's other meaning.

Bleeping Janet saying Jesus is just plain stupid.

In the same way that bleeping somebody saying lesbian, or other non-offensive words that wackos may find offensive.

-smak-

Posted by: HTH

Would they bleep it if someone took Moses' name in vain? Buddha? Allah? Yahweh? Thor? Flanders?

Is it the FCC that says you can't say that? If so, wouldn't that violate SCOTUS' interpretation of the establishment clause of the first amendment?

Posted by: dswallow

We need people to start running for political office; political ads cannot be censored. We could blanket the airwaves with nudity and foul language for months before every election and desensitize some of these people, they'd be happy to have just the occasional foul word spoken or bare breast exposed on shows they don't even watch, anyway. ;)

Posted by: SparkleMotion

quote:
Originally posted by HTH
Is it the FCC that says you can't say that?

The answer to this is an unequivocal "NO".

ASFAIK, broadcast concerns squelch referencing Christian deity names for one main reason.

They don't want to field complaints from viewers/listeners who feel offended because their personal lord and savior's name might have been mentioned in an unpious context. Complaints like these tend to snowball into ridiculousness like letters to sponsors and boycotts because you were "insensitive" to their god(s).

That's all. They just don't want the hassle of it.

As such, they are within their rights as a private business concern to edit such tiny blasphemies as they see fit in order to minimize the guff they have to sift through when they FAIL to address them in advance.

That's all.

It's business. It's NOT censorship on a governmental level.

Posted by: cwoody222

quote:
Originally posted by smak

The thing I don't understand is the whole Bono F word fiasco.

It doesn't even matter in what context you use a word.

Saying something is f'ing brilliant is not the same as using the word by it's other meaning.

-smak-

Unfortunately, the FCC changed their mind.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004...ain602251.shtml

The whole Oprah on Stern thing confuses me. They didn't fine Oprah 3 years ago when the original show aired. They didn't fine Oprah a week or so ago when it re-ran.

But the Stern producer was worried they'd fine Stern's show for airing a clip?

Talk about non-clear lines in the FCC's sand!!!

If you want us to follow rules, STATE WHAT THE RULES ARE!

If I was Stern I would have played the clip anyway, paid the fine (he can afford it) and then demand Oprah be fined equally.

Posted by: dswallow

quote:
Originally posted by SparkleMotion
It's business. It's NOT censorship on a governmental level.

The government level censorship creates the chilling effect on business. It's not the populace who are demanding these things get bleeped; it's the fear of government retribution in the form of ridiculous fines and license suspensions.

I seriously hope the FCC goes another one or two steps further. Once it gets past a certain point, riots in DC will commence and we can stop this nonsense in its tracks.

Posted by: sa-gamer

quote:
Originally posted by HTH
I find it interesting that, judging how they edit the movie Real Genius for TV, it is apparently not OK to impersonate Jesus, but it is OK to impersonate God.

Real Genius is one of my favorite movies.... What do you mean?

Posted by: SparkleMotion

quote:
Originally posted by dswallow
The government level censorship creates the chilling effect on business. It's not the populace who are demanding these things get bleeped; it's the fear of government retribution in the form of ridiculous fines and license suspensions.

I disagree on this particular point...at least as far as blasphemies are concerned.

And it's NEVER been "the populace". It's ALWAYS been little "call-to-action" groups led by people with names like "Terry" and "Wildmon" and "Robertson" and "Falwell". They bombard affiliates and sponsors with phone calls and letters and pickets and threats of further actions.

THAT'S what frightens corporations who have to answer to stockholders. The gov't doesn't scare 'em one bit with their dollar amount fines and handslaps.

Posted by: jamesbobo

quote:
Originally posted by cwoody222
Unfortunately, the FCC changed their mind.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004...ain602251.shtmlBut the Stern producer was worried they'd fine Stern's show for airing a clip?

Talk about non-clear lines in the FCC's sand!!!

If you want us to follow rules, STATE WHAT THE RULES ARE!

If I was Stern I would have played the clip anyway, paid the fine (he can afford it) and then demand Oprah be fined equally.

Stern did play the clip. But the station bleeped it and Stern has no control over what is bleeped. Yes, Stern can bleep something himself, but there are other people in other rooms that bleep words without his knowledge. He argued with his station manager, Tom, to let him play it uncensored but he wouldn't do it.

Posted by: HTH

quote:
Originally posted by sa-gamer
Real Genius is one of my favorite movies.... What do you mean?

Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
When they place the bug in Kent's braces, the edited-for-TV version has them saying, "This is God, Kent." The unedited version says, "This is Jesus, Kent," and has an additional joke when sending him to Hathaway's house, "Kent, my Father... you know, God?" or words to that effect.

Posted by: HTH

quote:
Originally posted by rseligman
George Carlin... did a little rant on the hypocrisy of language censoring in the media. He observed that you can print "f--k", and whenever that word is bleeped out of a broadcast, you can usually hear the "f" and "k" sounds as the bleep begins and ends. His point being that it's clearly OK for you to know what word was being said, but it's forbidden for you to actually hear/read the word itself.

Which, he notes, serves no rational purpose.

Oh yeah. And I have an example for you from Portal, where I've left the parts you could hear. Spoiler-warned to protect the easily offended:

Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
Here's the f**kin' post:

quote:
TO: DAVE
FROM:SILVERFYRE

I just seen the episode of Portal when... the first interview they had was a metaphysical character named Bloody Dove who was HILARIOUS. He was showing people how to channel rage to summon some bitchin' pets. Every other word was curses... and the best part was they were all bleeped out so it was HILARIOUS.

Signed,
Silverfyre
Yo! ****ole! You think it's funny that I got this much rage to channel? Do you think I like being this *** ****** angry? Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up every morning with hemorroids the size of m*****-***king golf balls and the nearest tube of Preparation-H is half a f***ing galaxy away? Do you know what it's like when your woman is rotting in f***in' prison and all you can do about it is play with your ****ing **ck?!

Well I'm glad you take pleasure in my pain, ****wad! Now why don't you make yourself useful and give me your address so I can come over and **** your worthless ***king ***ck!

Posted by: mykittykat88

Does anyone remember the Seinfeld where Elaine is on the subway and the power goes out? She is standing, holding a present and quite irritated by the crush of people, the heat, etc., and, the original time it aired (East Coast time) she said the "F" word.....and it wasn't bleeped out. Subsequent airings of it had a bleep or noise to drown out what she said.