Not last year's show, the one with the turgid music of Maroon 5 and the haunting sight of a shirtless Adam N. Levine singing in that wispy voice of his. No, all 1312 complainants (from an audience of over 100 million) were in reference to the show put on by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira this year. That's Adam on the left, with late NBC reporter Irving R. Levine on the right.
I think I would rather read a cereal box than these complaints, but someone at the FCC already did that for us. It seems the chief gripe is that some parents thought their kids were being forced to watch a "porno show." Chances are that none of these writers has even seen a porno show, or at least admitted to doing so to their spouse.
Here are some actual quotes from our fellow citizens:
“Jennifer Lopez’s performance at the Super Bowl halftime show was extremely explicit and completely unacceptable for a event where families including children are watching. I had to send my children out of the room so that they weren’t exposed to something they should not have seen.”
“My family was very excited to watch the Super Bowl tonight. However, I was not prepared to explain to my 11 yo daughter why Jennifer Lopez was dressed so scantily or why she kept grabbing her crotch. My daughter was asking if she was feeling sick from having so much skin showing.”
“The half time show was very sexual in nature. I have never seen so many sex poses outside porn magazines.”
“A disgusting spectacle was on display during the halftime show of the Super Bowl yesterday and I’m sickened by the idea that this was broadcast in to so many homes in America and possibly around the world. Selling sex seems to be the job nowadays, despite human trafficking and the Me Too movement. Shame on Fox.”
I have said that very sentence myself a million times about the news wing of Fox, but in this case, it would be good to remember that the halftime show is not put on by the television network whose turn it is to broadcast the proceedings. Blaming Fox for the cheesy content would be like blaming them for the 49ers' collapse at the end of the game.
It is also worth noting that some people's letters used language that could never be broadcast on network tv or spoken aloud in the family rooms and kitchens of the type of homes that were so roiled by seeing JLo's unadorned iliac crest that they forgot where the "power off" button is on their remote, forcing the entire family - Mom, Dad, Junior, Sis, and Aunt Hortense - to watch the undulating singers.
Also of note - some of the letters to the FCC mentioned that those upstanding families so revolted by women dancing would be boycotting Pepsi. Wonder how long that lasted.
It reminds that since 1975, people at the FCC, and US Congresspersons, have had to receive and file hundreds of thousands of complaints and protests because of a rumor that said the FCC is going to ban religious broadcasting. People who file these querulous queries mention that they heard that atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair is behind the effort to keep Jimmy Lee Swaggart and Joel Osteen et al from electronically entering their homes.
They usually spell O'Hair "O'Hare," but the point is made. Although MMO'H died in 1995.
In any case, the FCC has no authority to prohibit radio or television broadcasts of religious programs.
I can hardly wait til next year's halftime show. Betty White is already rehearsing.
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