2/11/2004
OTTAWA - A pre-recorded segment of last year's Juno Awards, where Detroit rapper Eminem accepted an award with his usual, er, aplomb, was way off-side, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council said today.
Mr. Slim Shady was awarded the International Album of the Year during the April 2026 award show and Juno broadcaster CTV, knowing he wasn't going to be anywhere near Canada, pre-recorded his acceptance "speech."
(Ed note: To paraphrase what we sometimes see on TV: The following two paragraphs will contain language some might find offensive. Reader discretion is advised)
Eminem's delightful message was: "Thank you so much. I am sorry I couldn't be there right now, but, as you can see, I'm hard at work in the studio picking my fucking ass. I hope to see you soon. Thank you very much."
According to the CBSC decision, a viewer immediately complained to the CRTC saying, "my children simply wanted to watch Avril (Lavigne) and ended up listening to that. If anyone is 'picking their fucking ass' it is the people at CTV."
During the two-hour broadcast, CTV aired but one viewer advisory eight minutes into the start of the 8 p.m. show. Eminem's segment was aired over an hour after that.
"Your correspondence sets out your concerns as to the appropriateness and context of the language used at the awards," responded CTV's senior vice president, comedy and variety programming, Ed Robinson on April 29th to the complainant. "He said, in part: "The Junos is a live music show intended for an adult audience. In producing the Junos, we had to take into account that musicians tend to express their opinions, not only in their music, but also in their manner and words. Because we were aware of the potential for strong language, we felt it important to air an advisory at the top of the show. We also aired Eminem's acceptance of his award after 9 p.m., the industry's watershed hour for adult content. We did not feel it appropriate to script or censor the acceptance of Eminem or any other artist," says the CBSC decision, quoting Robinson's response.
"We do regret that your children heard language that you did not want them to hear, but hope that we have explained the context."
Two days later, the complainant wrote his own retort for CTV and the CBSC: "Well, thank you for reply, but it is unacceptable for you to take the position that there was a 'potential for strong language'. There was no potential for Eminem, you knew exactly what he had to say as it was a recorded message. Airing it was to establish a shock marketing strategy for your own profit. Then try to hide behind the excuse of 'artists expressing their opinions', [�] There should be some form of punishment that CTV has to bear for calculating and airing negligently extreme profanity that steps out over the line in this matter and in this event's 'context', regardless of airing any advisory. Airing the advisory does not waive your negligence. And with regard to the so-called 'industry watershed time of after 9:00 p.m.' is another lame excuse to protect this conduct as you knew full well as to what the diverse Canadian audience would be for this show, including age groups. I could argue that 7:30 am is after 9:00 pm as well," reads the CBSC text.
The national conventional television panel decidedly sided with the viewer, citing the provisions of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' (CAB) Code of Ethics, Clause 10 - Television Broadcasting (Scheduling)
"The Panel is concerned by aspects of the CTV response," reads the decision. "Among other things, it does not accept that the Junos is a live music event that is 'intended for an adult audience,' the implication in that phrase being that it is intended exclusively for an adult audience. It goes without saying that adults would be among the audience, but the reliance by the senior vice-president on the adult make-up of the program's viewers is misleading. If there is a single awards show in Canada that would be likely to attract a youthful audience (among, for example, the Genies, the Geminis, the Junos, etc.), the Junos is it.
"And the panning of the attending audience during the show confirms the sense that the show seems not to be targeted exclusively at an adult demographic.
"Second, for purposes of the complaint registered in this case, CTV's reliance on the "live" nature of the event is not really pertinent. To all intents and purposes, the relevant part of the show was distinctly not live. It was pre-recorded," continues the decision.
"Third, the broadcaster had a clear and easy opportunity to either do a second take of the message or, if that had not been possible, it could simply have bleeped or muted the offending word. To suggest (as the CTV letter did) that it did not wish to script or censor the artist's words avoids meeting the issue head-on. Apart from the general silliness of the reason for his non-presence at the Awards, Eminem was providing the network and the audience with nothing material or important in his message. Moreover, the word "fucking" was utterly gratuitous and, if intellectual nihilism or simplistic "this-is-who-I-am, I'm Eminem" crudeness was the message, it could as easily have been achieved with, say, "as you can see, I'm hard at work in the studio picking my [bleep] ass."
The panel also noted that since the program began at 8 p.m., a full hour before the defined "Watershed hour", viewers should be able to expect that any so-called adult content can't simply be turned on in the middle of the broadcast. "Parents have become entitled to develop a sense of security regarding what they and their families may tune in before that hour. Once they have made their viewing choices on the assumption that the broadcaster's pre-Watershed programming is free of adult matter, the Panel considers that parents are entitled to maintain their confidence in the program they have selected without being shocked by an about-face in the content part way through that broadcast," says the decision.
So, "running no advisory at the start of the show and but a single viewer advisory at 8:08 pm (while Eminem's offending comment was made at 9:18 pm) was as close to no notice as CTV could have come. The broadcaster had a choice. It could have excised the offending word, which has consistently been held by CBSC Panels to constitute exclusively adult programming, or it could have broadcast the Junos after the 9:00 pm Watershed. By doing neither, it has breached the scheduling provisions of Clause 10 of the CAB Code of Ethics. By failing to include the requisite viewer advisories, it has also breached Clause 11 of that Code," concluded the panel.
So, CTV must: 1) announce this decision, in the following terms, once during prime time within three days following the release of this decision and once within seven days following the release of this decision during the time period in which the Juno Awards were broadcast; 2) within 14 days following the broadcast of the announcements, to provide written confirmation of the airing of the statement to the complainant who filed the Ruling Request; 3) at that time, to provide the CBSC with that written confirmation and with air check copies of the broadcasts of the two announcements.
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