Sunday night, the Disney-owned ABC network opened its broadcast of the 2011 Billboard Music Awards (8:00 p.m. ET) with a sexually explicit performance of the song “S&M” – while rating the program suitable for 14-year-olds.
The opening number featured singer Rihanna, clad in a white leather dominatrix outfit, writhing on the stage as men’s hands groped at her thighs and crotch, while singing the lyrics, “Sex in the air, I don’t care, I love the smell of it/Sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me.” Later in the song, Rihanna was joined by Britney Spears in a black leather outfit and bunny ears and mask. Together the two twirled on stripper poles, then concluded the song with a pillow fight.
This kind of content may be appropriate for a striptease show in Las Vegas (where the broadcast originated); but Disney decided it should enter the living room of every family with a TV set, at 8 o’clock Sunday night (only 7 p.m. in the Central/Mountain time zones).
This is not the first time the Billboard Music Awards have shoved extreme content at viewers. In 2002, Cher used the F-word; the next year, the Awards featured Nicole Richie saying, “Have you ever tried to get cow s*** out of a Prada purse? It’s not so f***ing simple.”
But this time, it was not an accidental, unplanned “slip of the tongue.” Rihanna’s routine was obviously well-rehearsed. Disney, ABC, and their advertisers knew EXACTLY what they were getting – yet they chose to put it on the air and sponsor it anyway!
If YOU are sick and tired of Hollywood dumping explicit sex shows into your living room, TAKE ACTION!
Contact ABC-Disney and the show’s advertisers — Chevrolet, Old Navy and McDonalds, among others — and let them know that you plan to “vote with your wallet” next time you’re shopping!
The network and every sponsor must explain to the public why they would use their ad dollars and squander their good-will with America’s families by delivering S&M themes and imagery to teen audiences.
Sincerely,
Your Friends at The Parents Television Council