Written by PTC | Published March 15, 2021
LOS ANGELES (March 15, 2021) – The Parents Television Council called out CBS for its Grammy Awards broadcast for including a performance of a sexually explicit song, WAP.
“Last night’s Grammy broadcast reminded us just how important music is in our lives, and perhaps never more important than the past twelve months. Listening to the inspiring lyrics of Lean on Me was not only a touching tribute to the late, great, Bill Withers, it perfectly embodied the selfless men and women on the front lines of the pandemic. But we were also reminded that a television broadcast is not the same, and should not be the same, as an explicit music video on the internet. The performance of Wet-Ass Pussy, and let’s not pretend that WAP means anything else, was entirely unfit for a primetime network television broadcast. Artists have every right to confound empowerment with debasement, and sexiness with debauchery, but a broadcast television network carries a higher standard -- especially during the times when children are likely to be in the audience. Shame on CBS,” said PTC President Tim Winter.
“Music presents to its audience a wide set of goalposts, and it’s hard to imagine wider goalposts than the messages of Lean on Me and WAP. And music either has the ability to influence the listener or it has no ability to influence the listener. We believe it is the former, and from everything the artists themselves profess, they believe it too. I only hope we can lean on our artists for inspiration and encouragement during the world’s increasingly-vexing times.”