The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, with some
help from the National Hispanic Media Coalition is filing an indecency
complaint against Spanish-language KRCA Los Angeles and licensee/program
distributor Liberman Broadasting over broadcasts of daytime
Spanish-language talk show José Luis Sin Censura
(José Luis Uncensored).
The complaint
alleges the show is obscene, indecent and profane, and provides transcripts and
photos to illustrate the allegations.
Streamed video clips allegedly from the show supplied
by GLAAD feature pixilated nudity and a mix of bleeped and un-bleeped
cursing and anti-gay slurs as well as violent outbursts from angry audience
members.
"For years Liberman has ignored concerns from viewers
as well as revenue loss from advertisers pulling spots," said GLAAD President
Jarrett Barrios. "This material is some of the most violent and offensive on
television today and the FCC should hold the broadcaster responsible for airing
material which is putting gay and lesbian people in harm's way." Liberman
execs had not returned a call or e-mails for comment at press time.
According to GLAAD, it met with the station owner in 2005
and asked it to cut out the cursing, slurs and violence, but that did not
happen.
It also says that after that protest several advertisers pulled ads. A
spokesman said GLAAD would renew its call to advertisers to avoid the
show.
The show also airs on Liberman's Estrella TV
network in 37 other markets, which the company says reaches over 77% of Hispanic
TV households, including in Miami, New York and Houston, according to
GLAAD.
GLAAD said it is teaming up with the Women's Media
Center for an online campaign urging supporters of its complaint to send
e-mails to the FCC supporting their complaint or filing their own individual
complaints in other markets.
"In over twenty episodes that aired between June 18 and
Dec. 7, 2010, the program contained images and language of the nature that is
never displayed or is bleeped out of pre-taped English-language programs of the
same nature," said GLAAD. "This program is way overboard, and goes far
beyond a fleeting moment of expletives or nudity," said NHMC
President Alex Nogales in a statement announcing the complaint. "José Luis makes Jerry Springer look like Mr.
Rogers."
The FCC has found nudity and language in Spanish-language
broadcast fare to be indecent in the past, and bleeping and blurring are not
absolute shields against indecency findings. An FCC spokesperson pointed to
several findings against Spanish-language broadcasts in the past,
including against a pair of Puerto Rican stations for cursing. "The FCC
translates," said the spokesperson, "and whether it is in Spanish or
English makes no difference" to whether it is actionable.
The FCC has not issued any indecency finding against a
station, English-language or Spanish-language, in over three years,
due in part to court challenges to its authority to regulate indecency. Most
recently, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that the FCC's indecency enforcementpolicy is unconstitutionally vague and chilling,
a decision the government is preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court.
"Regardless of FCC authority being litigated in the courts,
the FCC's history of enforcement of Spanish-language media is substandard,"
said Nogales. "This was the case long before the indecency litigation began."
