On the 35^th season premiere of Saturday Night Live, Jenny Slate joined a small group of people including Norm MacDonald and Charlie Rocket who dropped an F-bomb during one of the live broadcasts.  Not only was it her first show, but the sketch (a biker chick talk show) was her first as well.  In the past this may have been ignored, but thanks to Twitter, where “F-bomb” and “SNL” became instant trending topics, it’s hard to forget and even harder to ignore.  With that a lot of people, myself included, speculate that this will be her first and only show (possibly the first SNL one hit wonder) and that SNL will get hit with FCC fines.  However, while I think she may get fired, I don’t think she should, nor should the show get any punishment.

As mentioned, it was Slate’s first sketch.  It didn’t help that the sketch required her to say “frickin’” constantly (Paul Shaffer’s F-bomb happened under similar circumstances), so a slip was likely.  Also, courts have ruled against fines for “fleeting profanity” like when Bono, who oddly enough was the musical guest with U2, swore during the Golden Globes.  In Slate’s case, this was a fleeting moment: the show hiccuped, but the sketch didn’t come to a complete halt.  She puffed her cheeks for a second, then resumed the sketch like a professional.  To paraphrase one poster on Twitter: there was no panic hoedown.

Besides that, all she said was a word.  Unlike those who flood the FCC with complaints about anything anyone might possibly object to, I don’t think that word is offensive in and of itself and many of those restrictions are silly and outdated.  It’s just a word.  Regardless of my feelings on censorship (which is another essay altogether), systems are in place, but they need to understand that the context is what matters and that this context is hardly worth raising a fuss over or someone losing their job.

It’s understandable that people don’t think of profanity like I do and believe they are naturally offensive, but this sketch aired at 12:42 [in the morning] when most of these viewers are probably not watching if they even tuned in the first place.  Had she dropped the F-bomb during a live Sesame Street, then it’d be something different.

Slate’s slip up is one of the reasons why I still watch Saturday Night Live when it airs and not just the stuff people forward the day after.  It’s live TV so there’s always that sense of danger that anything could happen.  It’s exciting, and rare to see outside of news or sports.  Sometimes it may be the only time the footage is shown (legally).  Hopefully this incident doesn’t neuter that element of surprise.

Ultimately her fate rests with Lorne Michaels, who likely has more control over his show than most TV producers.  He’s certainly encountered on air slips, and in some cases they were cast members who went for the nuclear option to get off the show (MacDonald, Charlie Rocket happened during Michaels’ absence from the show).  This was a person who slipped up in her first show, where I’m sure she was incredibly nervous, but while I’m sure it made her upset off camera, handled the accident well.  She should get a second bleeping shot.

When Matt isn’t puffing his cheeks, he writes TV criticism (or at least tries to) at http://mattstv.blogspot.com/

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