Indecency Complaint, With A Spanish Accent

The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) have filed a complaint (173 pages in all, including extensive attachments) with the FCC against a TV station in the Los Angeles area.

The focus of their complaint: the Spanish-language television talk show “José Luis Sin Censura” (translation: “José Luis Uncensored”). According to NHMC and GLAAD, over 20 episodes of the show that aired between June-December of last year contained images and language that were indecent and that would have been routinely edited out of English-language broadcasts. The complaint alleges the repeated use of sexually-oriented terms such as “pinche” and “culero”, along with anti-gay epithets (“maricón”, “joto”, “puñal”) and anti-Latino slurs (e.g., “mojado”). Presumably recognizing the likelihood that the FCC may not be familiar with Spanish pejoratives, the complainants have included a “Note on Translation” in which they provide the approximate English equivalents. (“Pinche” is said to be “roughly equivalent” to “fucking”; “culero” means “assfucker”; “maricón”, “joto” and “puñal” are derogatory terms for gay people, akin to “faggot”; “mojado” refers to “wetback”.) They've also posted a collection of examples (including a number of NSFW items, such as semi-clad women) demonstrating their point on YouTube.