Super Bowl Fallout Still Shaking Things Up

A Pro Bowl halftime performance was scrapped. A five-minute delay was imposed on the Grammy Awards telecast. A shot of an elderly woman’s breast was deleted from tonight’s episode of “ER” on NBC. And producers of the Academy Awards show decided to use a short delay in the live broadcast.

The fallout from the Super Bowl halftime show continued Wednesday as major broadcast networks scrambled to shield themselves from potential fines in the growing clamor over nudity and profanity on TV.

As for Janet Jackson, whose breast-baring stunt set off the uproar, she will no longer participate as planned in Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremony on CBS, a person close to the singer said.

Jackson’s Super Bowl dance mate, Justin Timberlake, was still scheduled late Wednesday to perform on the show.

But the National Football League canceled the planned performance during Sunday’s Pro Bowl game by Timberlake’s ‘N Sync bandmate JC Chasez. Chasez was to perform the song “Blowin’ Me Up (With Her Love).” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the song “includes some very suggestive lyrics. We decided we wanted to go in a different direction.” Aiello said Chasez may still sing the national anthem before the game, which will be shown on ESPN.

At CBS, which aired the Super Bowl, officials said Sunday’s live Grammy Awards show would be tape-delayed long enough to allow censors to delete unexpected inappropriate acts or language. CBS will use new technology to expand its traditional five-second delay to five minutes, CBS spokesman Chris Ender said. (That won’t be an issue for the West Coast, where the Grammys will be on TV three hours after being shown live in the East.)

Using a sophisticated tape machine, censors will be able to edit out offensive content. “We want to take additional measures to ensure that something like that doesn’t happen again,” Ender said, referring to the Super Bowl performance during which Timberlake ripped off a piece of clothing from Jackson’s chest.

The furor reached into scripted shows for the first time Wednesday, when NBC announced it would delete a shot of an 80-year-old woman’s breast in tonight’s episode of “ER.”

“We have unfortunately concluded that the atmosphere created by this week’s events has made it too difficult for many of our affiliates to air this shot,” NBC said in a statement.

The executive producer of “ER,” John Wells, said he refused to make the cut himself, leaving the network to remove the scene. Wells said there was no comparison between the inappropriateness of the Jackson/Timberlake episode and a dramatic show about life-and-death surgery.

“In this case, there is an 80-year-old woman who is gravely ill,” he said. “There is nothing salacious, no attempt at titillation.

“At the very bottom of the frame you can see part of a breast and nipple. It covers less than 1% of the screen for a couple of seconds. In fact, most people [who have looked at the show] have had to call back and ask where it is. They couldn’t find it.”

The Parents’ Television Council, a watchdog group that is frequently critical of the networks, applauded the “ER” cut, noting that the adult drama airs at 9 p.m. in central and mountain time. On the East and West coasts, the shows airs at 10 p.m.

Wells said viewers were aware of the issues the show addressed and have been warned about the content through its TV14 rating. “This kind of affiliate overreaction in this political climate is chilling to the creative community,” he said. “This is why people choose to go to cable and HBO ... where you won’t get responsible storytelling censored.”

Recent events have raised the possibility of women’s breasts returning to taboo status on dramatic programs. “I hope not,” said one NBC representative who asked not to be identified. “Anything’s possible, given what’s happened this week.”

Indeed, reaction to the halftime dance by Jackson and Timberlake has rippled from coast to coast and in some unexpected ways: In Orange County, parents on Wednesday forced Laguna Beach school officials to kill a deal that would have allowed MTV, which produced the Super Bowl halftime show, to film Laguna Beach High School students on campus for a “reality” television show.

In Congress, urged on by the White House and parent groups, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) have introduced a bill that would boost to $275,000 the fine that could be imposed on broadcasters for violating indecency rules. The current maximum is $27,500. Upton has promised that in the future, networks will have to “do more than just apologize for airing ... brazen material.”

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell said this week that he planned to oversee the commission’s investigation into the Super Bowl halftime show, which elicited complaints about singer Nelly’s crotch-grabbing and the content of advertisements.

ABC said it would institute an audio and video delay for the Oscars later this month; a delay has never before been used during the live broadcast.

But a spokesman said the decision wasn’t in response to the furor over Jackson’s exposure, saying it had already been under discussion for some time. “We feel like it’s the smart and responsible thing to do given what we sense is a changing environment.”

On Tuesday night, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board members decided not to fight the decision. “The board would rather not have it delayed, but they understand the circumstances,” academy spokesman John Pavlik said.

Times staff writers Robert Hilburn and Randy Lewis contributed to this report.