February 8, 2004

Beyoncé was the big winner at the 46th annual Grammy Awards, scooping up five honors that included R&B SONG and FEMALE R&B PERFORMANCE. Other winners were Coldplay, Evanescence (BEST NEW ARTIST), Christina Aguilera, OutKast (ALBUM OF THE YEAR), Alison Krauss, Kylie Minogue, Luther Vandross, George Harrison, June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash. Justin Timberlake—whose raunchy Super Bowl half-time show with Janet Jackson caused the broadcast to be aired with a five-minute delay—took home two awards and publicly apologized for the randy stunt. [E! Online, 2/8/04; Washington Post, 2/9/04]

The FCC has launched what chairman Michael Powell promises will be a "thorough and swift" investigation into the entire Super Bowl halftime show—not just Janet Jackson’s breast-baring antics. That "wasn’t even the most offensive part," Powell stated in an interview. "It was the finale of something that was offensive. The whole performance was onstage copulation. This really crossed a heinous line." If the FCC concludes that the show indeed violated decency standards, CBS’ 200 affiliate stations could face fines of up to $27,500 each. Jackson and co-performer Justin Timberlake may also be fined. [Washington Post, 2/3/04]

The fallout from the Super Bowl fiasco extends beyond Washington, though. NBC quickly axed a part of ER’s Feb. 5 episode that featured a brief glimpse of an elderly woman’s breast, over the protests of the show’s executive producer, John Wells, who complained that the moment was "not comparable" to the halftime show. JC Chasez, one of Justin Timberlake’s ’N Sync bandmates, was told he wouldn't be performing at the all-star Pro Bowl halftime Feb. 8. (His new solo album, which releases Feb. 24, features the songs "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" and "All Day Long I Dream About Sex.") Corporate giant PepsiCo, traditionally a huge Bowl advertiser, is threatening to pull out of next year's game unless it receives assurances that such shenanigans won't occur again. ''It speaks to our extreme disappointment that all that quality [advertising] work has been overshadowed [by the halftime incident],'' spokesman Mark Dollins said. Janet Jackson, meanwhile, who was scheduled to present a Tribute Award to Luther Vandross at the Grammys, was bounced from the program for refusing to apologize on air. [USA Today, 2/3/04; Associated Press, 2/4-5/04; E! Online, 2/5-8/04]

It’s no great surprise that Super Bowl XXXVIII was the most watched Super Bowl ever with about 143.6 million people seeing at least part of the game. Total viewer averages came in lower at 89.6 million, still the sixth largest audience in the Bowl’s history. But it‘s safe to say that by the second half a lot of people weren’t thinking about pigskin. TiVo, the digital video recording service that allows users to replay live broadcasts, measured a 180% spike in viewership during the moment of Jackson’s flashing. Not only was it the most replayed moment of the Super Bowl, it was the most replayed television moment the relatively young company has ever measured. [Zap2it.com, 2/2/04; Hollywood Reporter, 2/3/04 stats]

QUOTE: "It seems that only the desecration of a sacred, adult-male-oriented rite can awaken Authority's outrage at the slime in which our children are daily bathed. (The Super Bowl isn't supposed to be about nudity, d---it! It's supposed to be about enormous men trying to maim each other's kidneys!) Janet Jackson's breast is probably the most wholesome thing your average 12-year-old has seen in a year of Sundays." —Washington Post editorialist Marjorie Williams [Washington Post, 2/5/04]

QUOTE: "I have to tell you, I got a thousand e-mails and letters about [walking out of the American Music Awards last year]. So clearly people in America are very frustrated about what’s coming through their television sets, and they feel like nobody in Hollywood cares. ... I don’t even feel you can trust most commercials. Everything is out of control. You can’t have [your children] watch the news because they’ll do stories about someone’s sexual misbehavior. You can’t have anything on." —Everybody Loves Raymond’s Patricia Heaton [ChristianityToday.com, 1/18/04]

U.K. broadcasting authorities need to start cracking down on their live broadcasts as well. On Feb. 3, up to 12 million people who were watching the British version of I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out Here! heard contestant John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten of punk band The Sex Pistols) call them "f---ing c-nts" for not voting him off the show. ITV network officials say they will include a time-delay on future broadcasts. [Guardian Unlimited, 2/4/04]

When aspiring actress Christina Axson-Flynn, a former student at the University of Utah and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told the school’s Actor Training Program officials that she wouldn’t use certain expletives or take God’s name in vain on stage, professors said she would be failed if she didn’t, stated that she could "still be a good Mormon" if she cursed and eventually told her to "get over" her beliefs. She took them to court. A U.S. District Judge ruled that the university hadn’t violated her constitutional rights, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has now overturned the decision. That means a jury can now decide if Axson-Flynn was discriminated against because of her religious beliefs. [Deseret Morning News, 2/4/04]

The stronger a teen’s faith, the less likely he is to view R-rated movies, the latest research from the National Study of Youth and Religion indicates. But the numbers are still higher than many parents want to believe. About 17% of teens (ages 13 to 17) who claimed religious belief is "extremely important" in shaping how they behave said most or all of the films they viewed were R-rated. Almost a third (32%) of those whose faith is "somewhat important," and nearly half (48%) of adolescents who think faith is "not important" regularly indulged in restricted features. Only 3% of Mormon teens watched R-rated movies, compared to 22% of conservative Protestant teens, 26% of Jewish teens and 31% of Catholic teens. [National Study of Youth and Religion, 2/4/04 stats]

When a Moorestown, N.J., teen was caught breaking into his high school, police found an electronic lock picking device on him, as well as a ticket stub for the movie The Perfect Score. (In the Paramount Pictures film, six teens break into the Educational Testing Services corporate offices in order to swipe a copy of the SAT.) The unnamed teen—who faces charges of obstruction of justice, resisting arrest and burglary—had managed to open a teacher’s desk before being apprehended by officers who were responding to an alarm. [Cherry Hill Courier-Post Online, 2/3/04 c&e:movies]

QUOTE: "We’re all liars and thieves." —Shii Ann Huang, one of Survivor: All-Stars’ contestants, on the moral character of herself and her co-stars [People, 1/26/04]

QUOTE: "Infidelity, sexual activity outside of marriage, and the absence of a moral and spiritual vision of the marriage covenant are depicted uncritically, while positive support is at times given to divorce, contraception, abortion and homosexuality. Such portrayals, by promoting causes inimical to marriage and the family, are detrimental to the common good of society." —Pope John Paul II, issuing a call for reform to popular media [KaiserNetwork.org, 1/26/04 c&e]