September 25, 2005

Why Robby Gordon Can Swear on TV

(Filed under: Extracurricular)

Last week at New Hampshire when Robby Gordon's race car was wrecked and he'd finished trying to run over Michael Waltrip, who supposedly took him out, and thrown his helmet at Waltrip, Gordon was approached by the TNT reporters and in an emotional outburst on live TV Gordon called Waltrip a "piece of sh-t."

The TNT commentators immediately apologized for the profanity and fans everywhere wondered why there was no delay to catch such profanity. NBC/TNT producer Sam Flood has a simple answer: "It's cable," Flood said. "TNT isn't on a delay, was never on a delay and will never be on a delay."

Because TNT is a cable network, the FCC has no jurisdiction and there are no indecency violations. So as long as NASCAR is broadcast on cable, the drivers can swear all the want and the FCC can't do anything. Of course today's race at Dover is the last TNT broadcast of the year.

And NASCAR has a thing or two to say about televised profanity, whether it's on cable or not. Robby Gordon was fined $10,000 for his outburst, which he later apologized for:

First and foremost, I want to apologise for the words I chose immediately after our race had ended. We had a decent car and we were obviously hoping to give our sponsors Jim Beam, Harrah's and Menards a top-10 finish. For some reason Michael obviously wanted that spot a lot more than I did because he flat took me out as I was cleared in front of him. I let my emotions get the better of me and I apologise. We bumped door to door when I went around him, and I don't know if that made him mad or what.

Posted by kevin at September 25, 2005 9:59 AM

Recent Entries

• Casey Mears Scores First Win on Fumes
• Why Mark Martin is the Nicest Guy in the Garage
• Flat Tire Takes out Kevin Harvick
• Semi-Retired Mark Martin Leading the Pack
• Why NASCAR Doesn't Care About Safety

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.monkeyouttanowhere.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb2.cgi/1577