Fleeting expletives (still?) OK
As the NYT reports, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has vacated an FCC order against Fox Television Stations regarding fleeting or isolated usage of the F and S words on TV, including one instance involving Nicole Richie, which is the one that really interests me. George Carlin, Dennis Franz, Cher, Bono, and Nicole Richie: first amendment superheroes. The dissenting justice writes that at least the FCC put some thought into the matter by claiming that the F word has an inherent sexual connotation. He chooses not to "consider the Commission’s standard which makes it a decency violation to use the word 'shit,'" because, basically, everyone poops, and he duly notes that, "In delivering the line, Richie changed 'pig crap' to 'cow shit,'" and who gives a shit about that?
It remains to be seen whether the opinion also vacates the FCC's characterization of "Ms. Richie's confident and fluid delivery of the lines," which is clearly a load of crap. In conclusion, I support the metamorphosis of Fox into a hardcore sex channel, and I would like to say that this court opinion is really, really, fucking brilliant.
