The watchdog group takes 3,000 complaints to the FCC about the Fox show’s April 25 episode centered on breast implants.
PTC Seeks Indecency Fine For ‘The Mick’
The Parents Television Council hand-delivered nearly 3,000 broadcast indecency complaints to the FCC over content found in Fox Broadcasting’s The Mick.
The group called for concerned citizens to file complaints over the April 25 episode that aired at 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 CT, and which centered on a teenage girl and her desire to get breast implants. The minor tells her guardian that “…you’re working the room like you’re mayor of tit town.”
PTC said: “Not only was an indecent word used in a sexual context, but the dialogue was delivered by a minor. Furthermore, the entire episode included graphic sexual dialogue and double-entendres, yet it was rated by Fox as appropriate for viewing by children as young as 14 years old.” [To view some of these scenes, click here.]
“We are urging the FCC to help protect the publicly-owned broadcast airwaves from indecent content such as what was aired on The Mick,” said PTC Program Director Melissa Henson. “The T-word has historically been considered off-limits for broadcast TV, as was affirmed in the FCC v. Pacifica Foundation case. Even comedian George Carlin once joked that it was one of the words you could never say on television.
“The FCC should issue an indecency fine to send a message to Fox Broadcasting and to the broadcast TV industry that indecent content is unacceptable. As long as Fox is licensing and profiting from the use of a public resource — the broadcast airwaves — they must abide by the law.
“Additionally, not only did Fox allow a minor to say the indecent word, Fox enabled the minor to be sexualized by centering the entire episode around her breasts.
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“With the Senate hearings over the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr to serve as FCC commissioners taking place on Wednesday, the FCC will finally be in a position to act quickly on adjudicating these complaints. Children must be protected from indecent content,” Henson concluded.
Comments (9)
Kristina Veltri says:
July 18, 2017 at 7:09 pm
The actress playing the character, Sofia Black-D’Elia is 25 years old, hardly a minor. She might be playing a teenager but the PTC failed to do the most basic research and Fox can easily claim the show is not meant to be taken seriously and move on. Also, let’s see what percentage of these complaints actually have original wording and don’t follow a form boilerplate.
Ida Anderson says:
July 19, 2017 at 9:51 am
The PTC quotes from the Carlin routine, but ignores the fact that he says in the same bit, “Tits doesn’t even belong on the list”
Gene Johnson says:
July 19, 2017 at 10:38 am
Is the PTC not aware of what teenage girls talk about among themselves, or in school? Does it have no sense of what goes on in the real world today, living behind some idealized notion of life in the 1950’s?
Cameron Miller says:
July 19, 2017 at 6:02 pm
The PCT is not stuck in the 50s, they are in the present.
John Livingston says:
July 20, 2017 at 11:43 pm
Yes The PTC is stuck in the 50’s they are not in the present.
Mark Crites says:
July 19, 2017 at 3:05 pm
Has anyone NOT associated with the PTC cult filed a complaint? PTC needs to stop trying to play the role of Morality Cop. This country doesn’t need a group of narrow-minded adults telling it what should or should not be allowed on television.
Cameron Miller says:
July 19, 2017 at 6:01 pm
They are not telling anyone what to watch, they are offering advice, and their members have every right to file a complain if they feel something isn’t right. And no, they are not censoring anything. So there!
John Livingston says:
July 20, 2017 at 11:45 pm
Yes The PTC does tell everyone what you can and can’t watch on TV which is wrong and they want to censor TV which is wrong as well. There not offering advice they have agenda plain and simple.
John Livingston says:
July 20, 2017 at 11:48 pm
I doubt that 3,000 complaints that most of them didn’t even watched The Mick only saw the outrage through what The PTC said on there website. I agree with everyone that told the truth about The PTC and how wrong they truly are.