The web was buzzing (or at least my inbox was) yesterday with conflicting information about whether NBC chose to edit a popular skit so that a vulgar term wouldn’t be heard on the Internet. Today the New York Times’ Jacques Steinberg has this piece about the video, called “Special Treat in a Box,” which featured Saturday Night Live host Justin Timberlake and comedy video auteur and SNL performer/producer Andy Samberg, of “Lazy Sunday” fame, doing an hilarious send-up of, well, two guys singing Timberlake-type songs offering up their d*cks in boxes to their girlfriends as holiday presents.
When aired, the skit bleeped out the “d*ck” part of the lyrics, but to their tremendous credit, NBC executives decided to put both the uncensored and uncensored version of the video online (censored version here, uncensored version here — and really interestingly, NBC uses the terms “censored” and “uncensored” rather than “edited” or “unedited.” Moreover, I think the censored version is funnier because of all the bleeps.)
This freedom of expression isn’t quite yet standard operating procedure at the network — the program proved to be so funny that execs decided it wasn’t offensive — future programs that contain vulgarity or other dicey content might still be censored on the web.
“We were all laughing,” said Mr. Ludwin [Rick Ludwin head of late-night programming for NBC], who had been accompanied by a representative from the NBC legal department. And then Mr. Ludwin said he had a change of heart.
“Those people who go on the Internet will not be shocked by this,” Mr. Ludwin recalled thinking. “Obviously there are some people who will be offended. Those people are probably unlikely to go searching for it on the Internet. It’s just funny.”
As he wrote the skit, Samberg was aware of the potential for the video to be a big hit online, although he’s still thinking in terms of YouTube fame. NBC actually yanked the pirated versions of the skit from YouTube, reserving online distribution of the video for itself.
“A sign now of success with a certain audience when you do a short comedy piece, anywhere, is that it gets on YouTube and gets around,” Mr. Samberg said. “It’s always something you’re thinking about unconsciously. It’s not our main objective. But there’s no part of us that doesn’t want to be on YouTube.”Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 11:29 AM | Print | Comments (0)
Blogs We Read
