Mötley suit
: Motley
is suing NBC for banning them after Vince Neal used the F word:
In the latest twist in the broadening battle overdecency standards, the glam-metal band Mötley Crüe filed suit against NBC yesterday. The suit states that the network violated the group's free-speech rights and weakened its sales by banning it after Vince Neil, the lead singer, used an expletive on the air in a Dec. 31 appearance on "The Tonight Show."
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Los Angeles, accuses the network of censoring the band to mollify a Federal Communications Commission that has been increasingly quick to levy steep fines for broadcasting indecent material on television and radio.
Well, too bad that the suit's absurd. NBC choses what to put and not put on the air -- it's called editing or producing, not censoring. Now I suppose one could argue that it's not their air, it's our air, so the band could sue to get on -- but, of course, that's ludicrous; that would end in every American getting 15 minutes of fame. Or I suppose the band could sue the FCC for creating this chill -- except the FCC didn't fine FCC and, besides, the F came out in the "safe harbor" for nastiness after 10 p.m. Still, I'm glad to see anybody go tilting against the windmill (read: broadcast tower) that is the FCC.
Behind the silence
: I have two incredibly stupid reasons for the radio silence here: (1) I'm doing too many months' worth of expense accounts, (2) I'm cleaning too many piles of old memoes out of my office. But it has to get done (here's why). I'll be back in a bit.
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