if you have a sense of decency and watched the Super Bowl half-time performance, you were probably horrified by Rihanna’s performance, as during it she kept rubbing her crotch and performing other obscene acts. Par for the course in modern America, perhaps, but disgusting nonetheless.
And so the FCC was flooded with complaints about it, as Noah Pransky, an editor at NBC Lx, reported in a Twitter thread. In that thread, Pranksy reported and commented on some of the complaints sent into the FCC saying (the formatting of the text in the tweets has been changed to paragraph form to make it a bit more readable):
“Just got my hands on the list of complaints the FCC received about Rihanna’s halftime show… And this year’s tally: More than 100! Many referenced her crotch-grabbing, calling it everything from “immoral” to “obscene”…”
“One viewer from Oklahoma wrote the @FCC: “The song was obscene as well as the way
she & her dancer touched themselves. Each of them should have gone to the restroom before the
program started instead of holding themselves.”‘
” Where did the most complaints come from? 11 – Texas 8 – California 8 – Michigan 7 – Florida 6 – New York 5 – Virginia”
” Let’s read a few more? “Get this disgusting content off US airwaves – our children are at stake!” – viewer in TX “Not provocative nor artistic. It’s all been done before & leaves no profound statement other than the sorry degradation of the humans doing it.” – viewer in PA”
Some of the other complaints included “My 7yo will never unsee a grownup performer repeatedly grabbing her crotch & behind.” and “I would like to know why I watched…a vulgar sexual expression commonly known as a scratch & sniff”.
Check that thread out here:
Just got my hands on the list of complaints the FCC received about Rihanna's halftime show…
And this year's tally: More than 100!
Many referenced her crotch-grabbing, calling it everything from "immoral" to "obscene"… 🧵 pic.twitter.com/yKZEIxEmY2
— Noah Pransky (@noahpransky) February 24, 2023
TMZ, reporting on the complaints, noted that “One viewer in California even compared Rihanna’s set to Kim Petras and Sam Smith’s performance at the Grammys, writing … “I don’t care what someone worships but children shouldn’t be exposed to pornography and as an adult I don’t wish to see it … Where has decency gone? How about respect for others and self?”‘
Another said “This year the halftime show was so indecent I had to turn off the TV because of the pornographic content.”
So at least some people have a sense of decency, even if performers and organizers evidently don’t.
TMZ also noted that, though it drew numerous complaints from irate viewers, the complaints garnered by the Rihanna performance paled in comparison to the furor created by the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” performance. Commenting on that, TMZ said “Of course, Rihanna’s show was a cakewalk for the FCC compared to another Super Bowl halftime performance … remember, the Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl generated 540,000 complaints!!!“
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