G N’ R Language on ABC Draws Heat

ABC was swamped with complaints after members of the heavy-metal band Guns N’ Roses uttered profanities during Monday night’s live telecast of the American Music Awards. While the profanities were heard by millions of viewers watching the show in the East, the segments were deleted from the tape-delayed West Coast version.

The band members, no strangers to controversy, won two awards. The first was for favorite heavy-metal group; the other for best heavy-metal album, “Appetite for Destruction.” The band was cut off the first time when guitarist Slash used a profanity. Slash and another band member were cut off again when they began using profanities while accepting the second award.

On Tuesday, ABC issued an apology: “We regret that last night’s live telecast of the American Music Awards contained some offensive language. This has not happened before in the 17 years this awards show has been on the air. We will take precautionary measures to see that it does not happen in future telecasts.”