http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=1&u=/ap/20040419/ap_on_re_us/fcc_indecency_7NEW YORK - Media companies, artists and civil rights activists joined together Monday to protest a ruling last month by the Federal Communications Commissions against the musician Bono of the group U2 for his use of an expletive on last year's Golden Globes broadcast.
CBS owner Viacom Inc. participated in the challenge, as did Fox Entertainment Group Inc., the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites), the Screen Actors Guild (news - web sites), the comedians Penn & Teller and Margaret Cho, and others.
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The group said in a statement that the FCC's ruling against Bono was "chilling free speech across the broadcast landscape," prompting broadcasters to abandon live programming and to drop or heavily edit classic rock songs such as "Who Are You" by The Who and "Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed.
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The incident in question occurred at last year's Golden Globe awards (news - web sites), when Bono said "This is really, really, f------ brilliant." The FCC received hundreds of complaints afterward.
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