Dear Sir or Madam:

For years, the American Music Awards was a wholesome alternative to other trashy awards shows that used cheap gimmicks and sleazy, tabloid-baiting stunts to build a following. The AMAs were different, focusing instead on talent and love of music, so, like many Americans, I felt comfortable watching with my family. No longer. Last night ABC and Dick Clark productions forever tarnished their hard-earned brands and violated the established trust of millions of parents by allowing S&M and bondage themes and explicit simulated oral sex to be broadcast into our homes, through our publicly-owned broadcast airwaves.

You should know by now that you need to exercise extreme caution in broadcasting live events, particularly awards shows. It was during the Billboard Music Awards that Cher uttered the F-word unedited, and a year later on the same program that Nicole Richie uttered the F- and S-words unedited. It was during the Golden Globes that Bono uttered the F-word unedited. But instead you chose to bury your heads in the sand, ignoring all of the warning signs, including Adam Lambert’s declaration before the program aired that his “very sexy” performance would include leather and chains!

Editing the simulated oral sex out of the West coast feed doesn’t give you a free pass, either. Viewers on the East Coast or in the Central and Mountain time zones should not have been exposed to this content, either. I am contacting sponsors of last night’s broadcast and urging them to request a refund of their advertising dollars if they were unaware that their money helped pay for this performance. You should also know that many Americans have also already filed complaints with the FCC about the content of last night’s AMAs.

It is outrageous that children today cannot watch a televised awards program based on an industry that is built on their backs. Teens comprise a huge portion of music sales and this is how they are treated? Teens – especially girls – are under siege and it is beyond contemptible.

You owe the American people and your sponsors an apology.

Sincerely,