Nothing new. Charles Rocket purposely dropped 'it' in the 80s and multiple musical artists have also done so over the years.




 

Rocket was a regular SNL player, not a one and done guest and lost his job over it. When he did it, it clearly wasn't an accident. 

If he thought the publicity would help him, it didn't.

I haven't seen the guy even one time since he threw his career away that night.

torontomike wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

I haven't seen the guy even one time since he threw his career away that night.

Charles Rocket died in 2005.
 

My point was after that infamous show aired, he virtually disappeared. You'd think other SNL performers might have taken the hint. 

RadioActive wrote:

torontomike wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

I haven't seen the guy even one time since he threw his career away that night.

Charles Rocket died in 2005.
 

My point was after that infamous show aired, he virtually disappeared. You'd think other SNL performers might have taken the hint. 

He sure didn't disappear. He worked steadily, and had beefy roles in such films as Dumb and Dumber, Dances With Wolves and Short Cuts. But being dead for 20+ years will make him difficult to spot.

It's SNL. CTV (or NBC) doesn't have to bleep anything because they gave fair warning about the content of the program every single time it comes back from a commercial break. It's good to see there's actual reason for it. 

Radiowiz wrote:

It's SNL. CTV (or NBC) doesn't have to bleep anything because they gave fair warning about the content of the program every single time it comes back from a commercial break. It's good to see there's actual reason for it. 

Agree.
Its not a family show, I would consitter SNL an adault show.
I'm not an snl fan, I like ourown 22 minuts instead, snl's not that funny mad tv was more funny.

Paul Jeffries wrote:

Doesn't SNL fall under what is known as "safe harbor" hours on U.S. TV, where essentially, you can get away with more than you normally would during primetime?

Or is the f-bomb still considered verboten during those hours, too?



PJ

SNL and NBC likely won't get fined by the FCC since the actual incident happened a few minutes before midnight in the east.  It apparently was bleeped out when the show ran in western time zones.  If it had happened in prime time or daytime would likely be another story.  The f word is still not to be used on broadcast stations along with no nudity on US broadcast channels.  But the FCC probably won't make an issue on this because of the time when it ran and the show being live. 

In Canada the CRTC doesn't usually get involved with profanity on TV or radio and prefers broadcasters regulate themselves which they do with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.  The CBSC set out guidelines for stations but these seem to be voluntary.  I have heard profanity on Canadian TV in prime time, however this is rare.  CTV and CBC in lets more go late night and overnight. CHCH will let swearing go on some of their movies in prime time.    

DX wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

torontomike wrote:

He sure didn't disappear. He worked steadily, and had beefy roles in such films as Dumb and Dumber, Dances With Wolves and Short Cuts. But being dead for 20+ years will make him difficult to spot.

If you say so. I don't remember ever seeing him again in any major role after that night.

Charles Rocket was not fired because of the F-bomb. There literally was a sketch (funny even) on the next live episode of SNL with Bill Murray, Rocket and the rest of the cast that joked about the F-bomb.
But NBC dumped Lorne Michaels-replacement Jean Doumanian shortly after that episode as show runner and replaced her with Dick Ebersol. Ebersol then cleaned house and fired and replaced most of the cast and writers (essentially for being unfunny),  including Rocket, who had been Jean Doumanian's golden boy.
 

Now that's a story I never heard. I always thought it was the deliberate F-bomb that did him in. (In Rocket's case, it wasn't an accident, as it seems to be with Gillis. He knew exactly what he was going to say and let it rip on live TV.) Either way, I'm sure we can at least agree that it was not a great career move. 

Here's how Wikipedia explains the sequence of events:

"The Saturday Night Live episode of February 21, 1981, hosted by Dallas star Charlene Tilton, featured a parody of the famed "Who shot J.R.?" story arc from the popular nighttime soap. During the show, a plot line had Rocket and Tilton flirting while other cast members expressed jealousy, leading to Rocket being shot in the chest by a sniper in the middle of a sketch.

In the show's closing moments, as cast members gathered with the host to say good night, Tilton asked Rocket how he felt about being shot. In character, Rocket replied "Oh man, it's the first time I've ever been shot in my life. I'd like to know who fuckin' did it."

Due partially to the violation of broadcast standards (though FCC rules weren't violated as it was uttered past safe harbor), along with negative press regarding the new cast and declining ratings for both the series and the network in general, NBC replaced Doumanian with Dick Ebersol after one further episode.

Ebersol, who placed the show on hiatus for a month to retool, dismissed Rocket, along with several of the writers and fellow cast members Gilbert Gottfried and Ann Risley, before the next episode. A writers' strike led to the suspension of the rest of the season, and when the show returned in October 1981, Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the only cast members who were held over from Doumanian's era.

Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live revealed that Rocket was particularly hostile toward Murphy and Piscopo, as he believed the two isolated themselves from the rest of the cast."

Sadly, Rocket died by his own hand, with his body found in a field in 2005. The coroner ruled it a suicide. 

RadioActive wrote:

DX wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

If you say so. I don't remember ever seeing him again in any major role after that night.

Charles Rocket was not fired because of the F-bomb. There literally was a sketch (funny even) on the next live episode of SNL with Bill Murray, Rocket and the rest of the cast that joked about the F-bomb.
But NBC dumped Lorne Michaels-replacement Jean Doumanian shortly after that episode as show runner and replaced her with Dick Ebersol. Ebersol then cleaned house and fired and replaced most of the cast and writers (essentially for being unfunny),  including Rocket, who had been Jean Doumanian's golden boy.
 

Now that's a story I never heard. I always thought it was the deliberate F-bomb that did him in. (In Rocket's case, it wasn't an accident, as it seems to be with Gillis. He knew exactly what he was going to say and let it rip on live TV.) Either way, I'm sure we can at least agree that it was not a great career move. 

This was the follow-up episode sketch, also with a little 1941 dig at John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_X904_TZnc

https://youtu.be/-_X904_TZnc?si=upMJP5-Bz14XVWEE
 

mic'em wrote:

On a radio note, Q92, the Rogers rock FM in Sudbury and afternoon host Nick, played an unedited version of Working Class Hero by Green Day around 3 pmish that I have to say surprised me. I hope they didn't get any complaints over it . 

I don't listen to a lot of greenday, so I don't know how bad for radio the leerics are.
And rock fans are more relaxed when it comes to swairing.
For leerics, Rock songs are the best at using profanity without overdoing it, these rappers and hiphopers, every word is a profanity, that's why in my opinion, that music is just noise and slop the softer rap or more mainstream vocial rap can have a good rithim, but the hearder stuff and drake are just mush and slop.
I prefere the rockers and 90s and early 00s pop divas.
Greenday swairs to make a point about how heard us normal people have to live, the rappers swair because they don't know to talk or sing.
It used to be with rappers, they talked about strougles without any profanity, and now, they think its cool to talk about guns and drugs and swair.

Turns out it wasn't the f-bomb that was the only controversy. It was Gillis' horrible monologue off the top of the show that got the outrage ball rolling. 

“I haven’t been to the gym in so long I didn’t know women just dress like whores now?” he said to a smattering of laughs and groans. 

“I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe. Have you seen it? I’ve seen it. The shorts. Have you seen the shorts?” he asked, comparing them to neon-colored fish lures.“

And don’t look!” he continued. “You’re not allowed to look. For real, don’t look, because they are filming. I’m in the background of like 10 TikToks right now.”

The reaction from other comedians and stars was swift and harsh.

Shane Gillis Faces Backlash Over ‘S.N.L.’ Monologue