FCC rules on Bono’s blue move

U2 singer Bono did not violate the Federal Communications Commission’s indecency standards when he let slip an obscenity during an acceptance speech at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony in January.

The regulatory agency, responding to complaints from the Parents Television Council and hundreds of individuals, ruled that when Bono uttered the word, he “used [it] as an adjective or expletive to emphasize an exclamation.... The word ... may be crude and offensive, but, in the context presented here, did not describe sexual or excretory organs or activities,” the standard the bureau uses to distinguish between language that is merely offensive and that which is considered indecent.

The Parents Television Council said Tuesday it would appeal the decision. “They don’t take indecency seriously and that’s why you see it proliferating on the broadcast airwaves,” said Lara Mahaney, director of corporate and entertainment affairs for the organization.