‘Fleeting Expletives’ Evade High Court Review, So Far
The U.S. Supreme Court took no action today on a request to revive the government’s ability to penalize broadcasters that air so-called fleeting expletives—the unscripted use of the F word by celebrities or other guests appearing on the air.
The court considered whether to accept the case at its conference Friday, but did not accept or reject the case on today’s order list, SCOTUSblog reports.
At issue is a Federal Communications Commission policy adopted in March 2004 that bans “isolated or fleeting” use of the F word during daytime and evening broadcasts, even if it is unscripted, the Los Angeles Times reports. The maximum fine for a violation is $325,000 for each broadcast station that broadcasts the word.
The New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had issued an injunction against the policy, saying it is arbitrary and vague.
Two celebrity awards cases provide an example of broadcasters’ failure to bleep out the word. When Bono received a 2003 Golden Globes award for original song, he said, “This is really, really f—ing brilliant.”
Cher expressed herself in a similar manner when receiving a Billboard Music Award, saying she had proved her critics wrong. “So f— ‘em. I still have a job, and they don’t,” she said.
The case is FCC v. Fox TV Stations.
