Back in 2004 (yes, it really was that long ago), Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson were victims of a unfortunate “wardrobe malfunction” which caused Janet Jackson’s pierced boob to be seen by something like 80 million people. Most of us laughed. others got all freaked out and had a legalk orgasm shooting law suits all over the place.
Well, four years later, it’s all over and a Philadelphia Court of Appeals has injected some common sense into the debacle. The court overturned the FCC’s fining of 20 CBS stations and the FCC’s claim the stations were liable for the “malfunction.” Basically, the Court of Appeals ruled the fines ran counter to the FCC’s long-standing history of forgiving fleeting instances of indecency.
The court’s ruling stated, “The First Amendment precludes the FCC from sanctioning CBS for the indecent expressive conduct of its independent contractors without offering proof of scienter as an element of liability. And it is unclear whether the FCC correctly applied a ‘willfulness’ standard to find CBS liable for failing to prevent the halftime show’s indecency.”
So that’s it. It’s all over. The pendulum has swung. Now we can get back to the Coors Twins, mud wrestling Miller beer babes and the notion there’s absolutely nothing wrong with sex. If all parties involved spent as much time as they do puritanically wiping the earth of all things sex as they could reducing violence – which could certainly stand some tempering – they might actually do some good.
