American TV censorship reaches new Highs/Lows

[Vanhalen 0]

The three letters looked innocent enough - E, L and Z.

But when Trey Wright combined them to make LEZ during the US Scrabble contest finals being taped for television, he provoked uncommon excitement.

 

The 32-point score put him on the verge of victory, but the use of a slang term for lesbian threatened to take him off the air.

 

Judges and TV directors, briefly lost for words, were sent scrabbling for answers and ruled that LEZ had to go.

 

In normal Scrabble rules, any legitimate word is fair game.

 

But for the finals, which are to be televised later, a list of potentially offensive words had been drawn up and their use banned.

 

The crowd watching the finals live at the New Orleans venue are reported to have erupted with complaints at the ruling.

And to make matters worse Mr Wright, a 30-year-old concert pianist from Los Angeles, had already drawn his two replacement tiles before the referee could spot the problem.

 

"He violated the rules. But there were also people who were upset that the word was played, Americans should not be subjected to this language" John Williams, executive director of the National Scrabble Association, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

 

The game was halted and the players were consulted.

 

Mr Williams and other members of the association's advisory board held an emergency meeting.

 

But LEZ had to go.

 

Mr Wright showed the two letters he had pulled from the bag to his opponent, David Gibson, before returning them and retaking his turn, playing a less controversial GUV for seven points.

 

He continued with more innocent words, ending with TEOPANS (Mexican temples) to clinch a win, the title and the $25,000 first prize, and seemed unfazed by the row.

 

 

"Meaning has no consideration when I play," he was quoted as saying.

[The Mandarin 0]

If he had have spelled out BOOBY, I think there would have been a full-fledged riot.

[razazteca 0]

You have to realize who plays this game.........Peggy Hill types.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

I got in trouble in the fifth grade for detailing how a well-placed "SEX" would get you an assload of points. I can feel his pain.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

I think the real question here is when did "lez" become a word?

[AndrewTS 0]

Is "LEZ" considered a slur, or does it merely have to do with it referring to homosexuality?

 

Is it in the Scrabble dictionary? Yeah, I know it isn't Scrabble, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had a Boggle equivalent.

 

I always through the proper spelling would be "LES" myself.

[EricMM 0]

Um they're not talking about Boggle.

 

I mean, boggle has dice not tiles...

[Ravenbomb 0]

Man, that's totally fucked up. The show Scrabble on TV?!

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

On ESPN none the less.

[AboveAverage484 0]

I think the real question here is when did "lez" become a word?

 

Fuck that, when did "GUV" become a word?

[Crimson G 0]

Lez isn't a word to be used in scrabble. I don't think I've ever heard anyone use that abbreviation (hence why it's not a legal scrabble play anyways) in an actual sentence.

 

The fact that they allowed another player to use guv (as in short for governor) as a word shows what kind of bullshit tournament they were in in the first place. But, it's not the first time ESPN has cracked to pressure. I'm sure we all remember Playmakers.

[Guest Kid Kablam]

Man, that's totally fucked up. The show Scrabble on TV?!

And they don't show racquetball. Hmmmmm

[Guest CronoT]

Disney owns ESPN. 'Nuff said.

[Ravenbomb 0]

On ESPN none the less.

well, if it were the Ocho I'd understand

[tommytomlin 0]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - America is full of prudes.

[Guest Kid Kablam]

Was "Lez" on the banned list? If not, then it should be fair game.

[Highland 0]

"Lez" and "Guv" are not words.

 

And the FCC and every media outlet/corporation that cowers before them needs to fuck off. If you don't like what you're watching change the channel instead of letting some government organisation babysit you all.

 

It's sad. The US has the smartest doctors and other professionals, yet isn't trusted with the remote without someone making sure they don't flick to a bad channel.

Edited August 8, 2004 by Highland

[Ravenbomb 0]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - America is full of prudes.

what do you expect, it was "founded" by puritans

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Man, that's totally fucked up. The show Scrabble on TV?!

There was a Scrabble game show in the early ninties. It ran (or was being reran) on USA weekday mornings.

[starvenger 0]

The fact that they allowed another player to use guv (as in short for governor) as a word shows what kind of bullshit tournament they were in in the first place. But, it's not the first time ESPN has cracked to pressure. I'm sure we all remember Playmakers.

I just want to see a Spelling Bee where a kid gets the word right and yells "Fuck yeah!" in celebration, just to see what ESPN will do.

 

Also, why are they televising a Scrabble tournament? Firstly, if Chuck Woolery isn't hosting, what's the point? Second, this is not likely to be a ratings grapper like poker or a piece of Americana like the Spelling Bee and Nathan's Hot Dog contest, so why is ESPN even bothering?

[Guest Fook]

I just want to see a Spelling Bee where a kid gets the word right and yells "Fuck yeah!" in celebration, just to see what ESPN will do.

Proctor: All right, this is for the silver medal. Spell "forensics".

 

Child: Ah fuck that! Why should I fucking have to spell "forensics"?

 

Other children: Yeah!

 

Child: Here you go. S-U-C-K-M-Y-A-S-S: Forensics.

[griffinmills 0]

Come now folks, dictionary.com is less than 15 keys away and it has LEZ in it listed as "offensive slang, short for lezzies." Strangly it does not have the alternate accepted play, GUV, in it unless you go to the alternate achronym section where it is, obviously, short for Governor.

 

What if he had spelled PENIS or ~TAINT!? *dies*

[Vanhalen 0]

They did a little bit on this on the radio this morning, mostly laughing at the people in charge for being so prudish, but they had a Scrabble champion on, and apparantly any word in the Oxford English Dictionary is allowed(www.oed.co.uk), it doesn't matter how offensive.

[Vanhalen 0]

Sorry, its http://dictionary.oed.com/ not www.oed.co.uk, theve changed over.

[Ravenbomb 0]

I just want to see a Spelling Bee where a kid gets the word right and yells "Fuck yeah!" in celebration, just to see what ESPN will do.

Proctor: All right, this is for the silver medal. Spell "forensics".

 

Child: Ah fuck that! Why should I fucking have to spell "forensics"?

 

Other children: Yeah!

 

Child: Here you go. S-U-C-K-M-Y-A-S-S: Forensics.

Fuck yeah!

[Jericholic82 0]

Isnt that just short hand for Lesbian, which is an acceptable word used by homosexual women? so why is it banned

 

 

AND WHY IN THE HELL IS SCRABBLE ON ESPN IT SHOULDN"T EVEN BE ON ESPN 3