Sally Field's Emmy Speech Censored By Fox

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MrsSpringsteen

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Of course they did censor other things, but according to this guy what she said wasn't technically profane in light of the Bono ruling.

http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2007/09/the-emmys-reall.html

Producers of Sunday's Emmy telecast bleeped best drama actress winner Sally Field in the midst of a controversial acceptance speech attacking U.S. involvement in Iraq.

"If mothers ruled the world, there wouldn't be any god -" she said when the sound went dead and the camera suddenly turned away from the stage so viewers would be distracted. Chopped off were the words "god-damned wars in the first place." (The phrase was not censored in the Canadian telecast.)

This belongs to all the mothers of the world - may they be seen and valued," she added when she won best actress in a drama series for her work as matriarch Nora Walker on "Brothers & Sisters." While the two-time Oscar winner already has two Emmys, this was her first nomination for series work, and she bested a field that included favorite Edie Falco of "The Sopranos."

Backstage, in the press room later, Field told reporters, "I would have liked to have said more four-letter words up there!

"Oh, well. I've been there before!" Field added when asked what she thought of the gagging. "Good. I don't care. I have no comment other than, 'Oh, well.' I said what I wanted to say. I wanted to pay homage to the mothers of the world. And I very, very seriously think that if mothers ruled the world we wouldn't be sending our children off to be slaughtered."

When she was pressed for further comment, she added, "Too bad. That's a shame. And I think I probably shouldn't have said the 'god' in front of the 'damn.'

"If they bleep it, oh, well. I'll just say it somewhere else."

Technically, Field's censored words are not profane. A 2004 FCC ruling specifically stated no objection to the use of "god damn" on TV when making a judgment on the uproar over Bono swearing at the Golden Globes in 2003 where he used more colorful language.

Field has a history of making controversial acceptance speeches.

Upon winning the Academy Award as best actress of 1984 for "Places in the Heart" five years after winning for " Norma Rae, " she delivered one of the most memorable thank-yous in Oscar history: "This means so much more to me this time, I don't know why. I think the first time I hardly felt it because it was all too new. But I want to say 'thank you' to you. I haven't had an orthodox career. And I've wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn't feel it. But this time I feel it. And I can't deny the fact that you like me . . . right now . . . you like me. Thank you."

At Sunday's Emmycast, Fox also bleeped "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl when its camera zoomed in on the surprised winner who gasped "Shit!" upon hearing her name called.
 
Yeah I wondered what everyone was talking about this morning in the various articles since we definitely got the full broadcast in Canada.
 
... wow, that is enough to get censored? I was honestly amused when an American once tried to tell me that "damn" counts as profanity.

This is why I love Aussie TV: you can say whatever the fuck you like after 9pm, and I've seen and heard "shit" in a 6:30pm national news headline ("Shit happens", says MP [in response to a controversy]).
 
You know it's funny about censorship...when I was younger and many more words were "bleeped", if somebody said "God damn(it)" on TV they'd bleeped "damn" and left "God". Now I often see movied edited for TV and they'll bleep "God" and leave "damn" in. Interesting.

Wasn't there a issue regarding FOX and bleeping not too long ago? Where the person hadn't cussed at all but said something anit-war or anti-Bush...I can't remember but I seem to recall something like that.
 
are you effing kidding me? how many times on FOX shows do characters get away with saying goddamnit? i don't think this was a censorship of foul language as much as it was a censorship of protest.
 
Damn is okay, goddamn is not. That's not a new thing.

But that was a really annoying way they did the tape delay. Going to a long-shot of the hall? Whatever.

Everyone's so jumpy on the bleep trigger these days in America. Oh no, can't have a swear sneak through! Can't have some angry busybody in Idaho complaining to Fox!
 
I think the decline of high standards and the corruption of the English language is depressing. If you've ever been on a college campus, you've surely heard people who can't say a simple sentence without inserting the F-word to sound tough or cool. Sometimes I wonder to myself if those people think "I better swear somewhere in this sentence, because if I don't, people around me will think I'm a loser." I've come to the conclusion that if you have a pottymouth and can't say a single sentence without swearing, I think less of you as a person, and I'm not apologizing for it. It demonstrates wonderfully your ignorance, vulgarity, lack of vocabulary, and overall a lack of intelligence.


But not to get off-topic...
 
It really really bothered me that they censored her. Not just for the God damn comment but because of the context it was in, making a comment about war.
 
I actually agree with that. I swear more than I used to, and I think it can be used for comic effect or emphasis, but people who can't seem to say anything without swearing? I have no use for them.
 
you know...yeah i understand where you're coming from with the frustration of people using them all the time. but to be honest, i'm more annoyed with people who use "like" x423409230423 in conversation. sometimes i've heard people say it more than once in the same sentence.

i'm sooner able to find a group of college students who don't swear than i am to find some who don't use "like" every few seconds.
 
While I'll toss in the odd F-bomb for effect I agree it's annoying to hear somebody speak and it's about every other word.

Remember when FOX started, they were supposed to be the new, hip, current, edgy network? They showed the Simpsons and Bundys and just stuff that the established networks wouldn't have touched...how the F :) did they become this bastion of neo-conservatism?
 
I wonder if they were a little trigger-happy with the bleep button because everyone assumed they'd be full of curse words on boobies ... because they're, you know, Fox?

Maybe they were trying to prove they could be a "grown-up" network, too? :wink:
 
I didn't watch the show, but I think it's stupid to censor anything. I thought it was stupid when they raised that stink about Bono, and it's stupid now. Who cares? Stupid, stupid, stupid. :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:
 
2861U2 said:
I think the decline of high standards and the corruption of the English language is depressing. If you've ever been on a college campus, you've surely heard people who can't say a simple sentence without inserting the F-word to sound tough or cool. Sometimes I wonder to myself if those people think "I better swear somewhere in this sentence, because if I don't, people around me will think I'm a loser." I've come to the conclusion that if you have a pottymouth and can't say a single sentence without swearing, I think less of you as a person, and I'm not apologizing for it. It demonstrates wonderfully your ignorance, vulgarity, lack of vocabulary, and overall a lack of intelligence.


Some things are so morally significant that they merit the use of swear words. Like mothers losing children in wars, for one example. What's more profane-the words she used or the loss of that life? That's hardly the same as swearing just for the sake of swearing.

I always think of the 9/11 tv documentary being censored (for language that onlookers and fire and police people used) and how completely insane that was. If that isn't a perfect example of our f :censored: ed up standards then I don't know what is.
 
Both times CBS aired the 9/11 documentary shot by the French documentarian and his brother, they did not censor it. All the expletives were left intact, and I was really pleasantly surprised with CBS for not tampering with it.
 
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corianderstem said:
Both times CBS aired the 9/11 documentary shot by the French documentarian and his brother, they did not censor it. All the expletives were left intact, and I was really pleasantly surprised with CBS for not tampering with it.

Yes, I remember watching that, and I agree that the language should not have been censored out. That is a rare exception though. Award-show rants and things like that are completely different.
 
Yes, I agree she should not have been censored. Bleep out the "goddamn" and leave the stinkin' rest.
 
There's no way that had to do with the God damn portion. No way. As someone said, they have tons of programming with foul language, there's no way that it had anything to do with it. It was the war comments.

Fair and balanced... :rolleyes:
 
They may have other shows with foul language, but do you ever hear "goddamn" on network TV? It's always bleeped. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't know that network TV allows more profanity now than they ever did. Nothing's changed there. I don't even think characters can say "asshole" yet. All other forms of "ass," but "asshole" is apparently more offensive. Weird.)

They could have bleeped out the one word and left the rest, but honestly, based on the way they did their editing, it seemed like everyone who got "bleeped" had more cut away than just the offensive word.

Maybe it wasn't really intentional to bleep out her whole comment, but their whole delay setup went longer than other delay/bleeps used in other shows/networks.

It was annoying, but I'm willing to give Fox the benefit of the doubt.
 
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corianderstem said:


Maybe it wasn't really intentional to bleep out her whole comment, but their whole delay setup went longer than other delay/bleeps used in other shows/networks.


What do you mean? If the delay was longer than others, that means they actually had more time to do correct edits.
 
Fox's delay system was weird - instead of just silencing the speaker or inserting a "bleep," there was a visual cutaway to an overhead of the audience, accompanied by silence.

Every cutaway I saw (Ray Romano, Katherine Heigl) had that - it just seemed excessive for everyone, so instead of a one-second bleep or one second of silence, you had this longer silence and a visual cutaway that made it seem like a technical error.

I don't think Sally Field had a longer gap of silence than the others. I'm just saying that because of that system they had in place, her whole sentence got cut off instead of just the "goddamn."
 
r



“A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus,” an exultant Griffin said, holding up her statuette. “Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now.”

 
corianderstem said:
Yes, I agree she should not have been censored. Bleep out the "goddamn" and leave the stinkin' rest.

:yes:


And the censoring of the word "shit". Big f**king deal. We do it every day, don't we? It's okay to say "crap" on the air but not "shit". What's the "goddamn f**king* difference :shrug:

Plenty of cleavage apparently is no problem though. Or bad jokes by Brad Garrett and suddenly being thirsty for milk :der:
 
I often find Kathy Griffin too annoying for words, but that's hilarious. :lol:

I'm okay with not allowing cursing on network TV. Call me old-fashioned in that respect, but there's just no need for it. I understand it's going to slip out in live events and whatnot and it's not worth getting my panties in a wad over, but I like that for the most part, network TV still doesn't allow the cursing on its TV shows.

But yeah, on the other hand, the double-standard between cursing vs. sex and violence that's on the air is pretty ridiculous. I'd rather they lay off the overt sex and violence than pump up the swearing to even it out, though. :wink:
 
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Not to mention the commercials shown at various hours of the day for shows that have "adult content" or double entendres, etc. Or commercials for "E.D." :der:
 
The majority of shows I watch are HBO and FX; it delivers the quota of sex, violence and swearing that I demand.
 
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