Major FCC complaint launched against homophobic Spanish-language TV talk show

TAKE ACTION: To support this effort, please click here and sign!

In July of last year, I wrote about the outrageous homophobia, transphobia and misogyny that ran rampant on a daytime Spanish-language television show called "José Luis Sin Censura" (Appropriately, I titled the post "Sickening").

I wasn't the first or the last one to notice. In my case, an anonymous reader sent me a number of clips from the show which I translated and posted on YouTube. Jeremy Hooper at GoodAsYou had also written about the show a month earlier than I did. And the guys at Queerty also followed up on my post.

Most importantly, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) also released a call to action which means the show's producers were put on notice.

Eight months later, though, and they continue to pull the same offensive stuff...

The result? Today, it was just announced that GLAAD is joining forces with the National Hispanic Media Coalition to launch an FCC complaint against Liberman Broadcasting who own the show.  An excerpt from the press release:

Los Angeles, CA, February 28, 2011 – The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) today filed a joint complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against Liberman Broadcasting, Inc. and KRCA, a broadcast television station serving the Los Angeles area. The complaint is in response to a string of broadcasts of the Spanish-language television talk show "José Luis Sin Censura," which often contains indecent, profane, and obscene material, offensive language, nudity, and on-air verbal and physical attacks against women as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The organizations also launched an online action with the Women's Media Center (WMC) where concerned community members and allies can send e-mails to the FCC supporting the complaint or file their own complaints based on episodes they have witnessed.

GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios and NHMC President Alex Nogales will discuss the FCC complaint during an online press conference on February 28, 2011 at 1PM EST / 10AM PST. To access the streaming footage, please visit www.glaad.org/jlsc.

In over twenty episodes that aired between June 18 and December 7, 2010, the program contained images and language of the nature that is never displayed or is bleeped out of pre-taped English-language programs of the same nature, including the words "pinche" ("f*cking" in English) and "culero" ("assf*cker"), anti-gay language, including epithets such as "maricón," "joto" and "puñal" (or "f*ggot"), and anti-Latino slurs, such as "mojado" ("wetback"). The program frequently featured blatant nudity and female guests have been shown in violent fights. Hypersexualized images of women's bodies while stripping for male guests and audience members also make up routine offerings. Guests and audience members were often incited to engage in verbal and even physical attacks, especially against people perceived to be LGBT. Many episodes showed the audience standing and shouting anti-gay epithets and profanity at guests.

The Woman's Media Center, founded in 1995 by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem "to positively impact the visibility of women in the media, amplify women's voices on key issues in the national dialogue, fight sexism and bias against women in the media, and increase professional opportunities for women across all forms of media" is also supporting the action.

The organizations have also created an easy way to join them and take action. To do so, please click here and sign your name!

Some will say that the show, for those who do not understand Spanish, looks like a Spanish language version of "The Jerry Springer Show" and a lot of it certainly seems staged. But Jerry Springer nor his show's producers would ever have allowed and encouraged audience members to shout "faggot" at a host as someone beat him up as one of these clips show.

Spanish language media often gets an easy pass when it comes to this type of obscene content on television that clearly violates FCC regulations because they are low on the FCC's radar. Please take some time to click on the action link and make sure that the producers of "José Luis Sin Censura" know that this sort of homophobic content won't be tolerated.

Related:

• "José Luis Sin Censura" webiste here
• "José Luis Sin Censura" Facebook page here

Reactions (you might want to check reader's comments on these blogs as well):

• GLAAD filing FCC complaint against "José Luis Sin Censura" (AfterElton)
• At last! A call against 'José Luis Sin Censura (Mi Blog Es Tu Blog)
• GLAAD files FCC complaint against anti-gay Spanish language show (Rod2.0)
• GLAAD, National Hispanic Coalition file FCC complaint over homophobic Spanish-language show'José Luis Sin Censura' (Towleroad)
  GLAAD files FCC complaint against anti-gay Spanisg language TV show (Joe.My.God.)
• Will this mean talk show heed GLAAD's warning about calling everyone a 'maricón'? (Queerty) 
• While GLAAD goes after one homophobic Spanish TV personality, another goes unchecked (ngBLOG) 
• Homophobia in Spanish-language media: GLAAD files FCC complaint against TV show "José Luis Sin Censura" (Carlos in DC)

Sickening

Last week, some anonymous person sent me a number of low-quality clips from a television show called "José Luis Sin Censura".

The show, which thankfully I've never seen in my life, is apparently broadcast in some of the major US television Latino markets, including New York City, Los Angeles, Miami and Houston.

Think of a smuttier "The Jerry Springer Show" with no concern shown for FCC fines, particularly in their demeaning portrayal of gays, lesbians, women and transgender folk.

I have compiled the six or seven clips I was sent and uploaded them as a single clip on YouTube.  I believe the clips come from two separate shows...



Looking for additional info online, I was happy to see that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) was already on the case.  An excerpt from their June 18th statement:

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) asks you to join calls for the reality talk show José Luis Sin Censura to immediately stop using defamatory terms and apologize to viewers. The terms “maricón” and “puñal,” which in English translate to “fa**ot” were chanted by audience members on the June 8 segment of the program. The same pattern occurred on the June 10 segment of the show, when audience members chanted “puto,” a word that also means “fa**ot” in many Spanish-speaking countries.
GLAAD reached out to executives of the company that produces José Luis Sin Censura to express our concerns, but the company has not responded.  The show is produced and distributed by Burbank, CA-based LBI, Liberman Broadcasting Inc. José Luis Sin Censura airs daily on Estrella TV in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Houston and other large Latino markets. By one estimate, Estrella TV reaches about 70% of the nation’s Latino households and millions of Latinos nationwide.
The show’s format pits guests against one another in combative situations. This often leads to violence, which audience members are encouraged to cheer and sends a message that violence against LGBT people is okay.

They urge people to take action NOW and express their outrage.

I was also glad and not surprised to see that the amazing Jeremy Hooper of Good As You was on the case as well. He's got additional damning footage of the show on his blog.