Little People of America File Complaint With FCC

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

According to reports, the Little People of America has filed an official complaint with the FCC over the use of the term "midget" on TV.
"[P]eople with dwarfism find the word "midget" highly offensive," the group said last April when it complained about the use of the term on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice.
An FCC spokesperson was not available for comment at press time, but to regulate the term's use on broadcast TV, the commission would likely have to classify it as indecent or hate speech, over which it has regulatory.
An LPA spokesperson attending the meeting would not comment on where the group was in the process of registering its complaint with the commission.
NBC was unavailable for comment at press time.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.