OTTAWA – The mad marionettes on Puppets Who Kill aren’t in violation of Canadian broadcast standards when they use religious terms as expletives, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council said this week.
A viewer complained that a Comedy Network episode of Puppets Who Kill, which contained the expressions “Jesus” and “Jesus f****ing Christ” used as interjections violates the Human Rights clause of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics.
The CBSC national specialty services panel said no, but that the Comedy Network should have broadcast a classification icon at the beginning of the program and a more detailed viewer advisory so that those who abide by the etchings on the tablets Moses pulled from Mount Sinai could more easily avoid such episodes in the future.
The Third Commandment advises against taking God’s name in vain.
Puppets Who Kill is a comedy program intended for adults that focuses on the activities of four untraditional puppets, who were been convicted of various criminal acts and sent to a halfway house for rehabilitation. The challenged episode, entitled “The Island of Skip-Along Pete”, was broadcast at 10 p.m. on September 9, 2005.
