Blunt Fonda Unbleeped
By Alex Weprin and John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/18/2008
NBC's Meredith Vieira quickly apologized, and just as quickly the Parents Television Council complained after Jane Fonda spoke a bit too freely during an NBC Today interview where she unabashedly used the C-word.
Fonda used the slang word for female genitalia in referring to the title of the monologue she was asked to perform in The Vagina Monologues. The utterance was unbleeped.
After a commercial break, Vieira said Fonda "inadvertently said a word from the play that you don't say on television. It was a slip and, obviously, she apologizes and so do we. We would do nothing to offend the audience."
The incident comes soon after Diane Keaton used the F-word on Good Morning America.
The network runs the risk of FCC censure, but once again, after a court ruling, those rules are hazy.
The PTC, whose complaints helped drive the FCC's crackdown, was not amused. "If an NBC employee used the 'C-word' to another employee, that employee would be suspended or even fired," said PTC President and former NBC employee Tim Winter.
