LOS ANGELES (August 31, 2006) – The Parents Television Council filed an indecency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the NBC broadcast of the Emmy Awards during which actresses Helen Mirren and Calista Flockhart used vulgar and obscene language on the live broadcast.  The PTC™, on behalf of its over one million members nationwide, has asked the FCC to levy a Notice of Apparent Liability against each NBC affiliate that aired the unedited program.

 

During the 9:30 pm CT/MT hour on August 27, 2006, the phrase "t*ts over a*s" was spoken by both Ms. Mirren and Ms. Flockhart and both times aired unedited during the NBC Network broadcast of the Emmys.

 

"It is utterly irresponsible and atrocious for NBC to air this vulgar language during the safe harbor time when millions of children were in the viewing audience.  People are getting sick and tired of networks allowing unedited profanity on their award shows in front of millions of youngsters, and with NBC this practice is becoming habitual.  Didn't NBC learn anything from airing the live broadcast of the Golden Globes during which Bono dropped the F-word?  NBC should have aired the Emmys on a tape delay, to bleep out the obscenities.  A few seconds' delay would not have meant a thing," said L. Brent Bozell, president of the PTC.

 

"We are calling on our members in the Central and Mountain time zones to file an indecency complaint with the FCC about this broadcast.  We certainly hope that NBC will feel the pain of a hefty indecency fine for breaking the indecency law.  It seems the only way to restore a sense of responsibility to the broadcast networks for polluting the public airwaves is to make sure the multi-billion dollar companies are financially penalized."