LOS ANGELES (October 22, 2008) – The Parents Television Council™ is filing an indecency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and urging its members and concerned citizens to do the same after a three minute long strip club scene featuring a lap dance aired on CBS’s “Two and a Half Men.” The episode at issue aired on Monday, October 20 at 9:00 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific Time zones/8:00 p.m. in the Central and Mountain Time zones.
 

The strip club scene features the main character attempting to have a conversation with his nephew’s former teacher turned stripper while she gives his brother a private lap dance. The stripper grinds on his brother’s lap eliciting moans and cries of “yes, yes, yes” before the scene ends.
 

“We believe that the patently offensive sexual content in this episode of ‘Two and a Half Men’ crossed the broadcast indecency line. Rather than airing the program after 10:00 p.m., and rather than assigning a content rating that accurately reflects the material contained within the episode, CBS chose to air it when millions of children were in the television viewing audience, and they deemed the material to be suitable for 14-year-olds,” said PTC President Tim Winter.

 

“The shocking episode included a strip club scene that lasts three full minutes and features up close shots of a leading character being ‘serviced’ by a stripper complete with moaning and other sexual references. The scene was in no way ‘fleeting’ or accidental; rather, it was specifically written into this scripted program.

“It’s high time for CBS to be held accountable for violating the public trust, the broadcast decency law, and the two consent decrees it signed with the FCC promising not to air indecent content. This episode of ‘Two and a Half Men’ is just the latest act of irresponsibly from the network that brought us the Janet Jackson Super Bowl striptease, an unedited ‘f-word’ on ‘Big Brother’ and unobscured male genitals in high-definition to kick off the new season of ‘Survivor.’
 

“In addition to our indecency complaint, we are urging parents to contact the FCC to let them know enough is enough from CBS. We will also be contacting advertisers that appeared in the episode to ensure they are aware of exactly what type of content they chose to associate with their hard-earned corporate brands,” said Winter.