ABC Not Fined for Monday Night Football Opening

The FCC has ruled that it will not fine ABC for a Monday Night Football introduction that featured Terrell Owens and actress Nicollette Sheridan of "Desperate Housewives" (FCC News Release, 3/14/05). The skit featured Owens ready to go out and play the game until Sheridan drops her towel (presumably the only thing she is wearing) to the ground. Viewers, of course, saw nothing more than the back of the actress on the telecast. From the Opinion and Order:

We conclude that the material in question is not patently offensive, and thus, not indecent. In particular, the “Monday Night Football” segment, although sexually suggestive, is not graphic or explicit. Owens is fully dressed throughout the segment, and, with the exception of a moment when her bare back is exposed to the audience, Sheridan is at all times fully covered with a towel. No sexual or excretory organs are shown or described, and no sexual activities are explicitly depicted or described. Furthermore, the scene where Sheridan drops her towel and jumps into Owens’s arms is brief. Although the scene apparently is intended to be titillating, it simply is not graphic or explicit enough to be indecent under our standard.

This is absolutely the right result. There was nothing about this scene that even came close to crossing over into indecency. If parents do not like what ABC is broadcasting, then they have the right to make their voice felt by not watching the network's programs. They can even unplug the television altogether if the material does not meet their approval. But censorship or possible penalty for material that is "edgy," no matter how unnecessary some may feel it is, has no place in our society.

Posted in: