Bleep censor
Encyclopedia
A bleep censor is the replacement of profanity
or classified information
with a beep sound
(usually a ), in television or radio. It is mainly used in the United Kingdom
, Canada
, the United States
, Australia
, New Zealand
, Hong Kong
and Japan
.
ing TV programmes to remove content not suitable for "family" or "daytime" viewing and personal information for privacy. The bleep censor is a software module, manually operated by a broadcast technician
. A bleep is sometimes accompanied by a digital blurring of the speaker's mouth or covered with a picture like a black rectangle, in cases where the removed speech may still be easily understood by lip-reading.
On closed caption subtitling
, bleeped words are usually represented by the phrase "(bleep)", sometimes the phrase "[expletive]", sometimes hyphens (e.g. f--k), and occasionally asterisks (e.g. ****), remaining faithful to the audio track. Where open captions are used (generally in instances where the speaker is not easily understood), a blank is used where the word is bleeped. Occasionally, bleeping is not reflected in the captions, allowing the unedited dialogue to be seen.
Bleeping is normally only used in unscripted programs - documentaries
, radio features
, panel game
s etc. - since scripted drama
and comedy
are designed to suit the time of broadcast. In the case of comedies, most bleeping may be for humorous purposes.
When film
s are edited for daytime TV, broadcasters usually prefer not to bleep swearing, but cut out the segment containing it, replace the speech with different words, or cover it with silence or a sound effect
. (See also In film.) In the first example, the film may (unintentionally) become nonsensical or confusing if the removed portion contains an element important to the plot.
The bleep is sometimes used for privacy reasons, concealing for example names and addresses.
Bleeping is commonly used in English
- and Japanese
-language broadcasting, but rarely used in some other languages (such as Spanish
, French
, German
, Italian
, and Polish
), displaying the varying attitudes between countries; some are more liberal towards swearing, less inclined to use strong profanities in front of a camera in the first place, or unwilling to censor.
(as in a fantasy 1960s sitcom scene in Natural Born Killers
, or for plot purposes in "Kill Bill
"). At least one swear word was (intentionally) bleeped out of Talladega Nights, Ocean's Twelve
, Accepted
, Happy Gilmore
, Disaster Movie
, The Cat in the Hat
, Meet the Spartans
, Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me
, and during the credits of Wild Hogs
. There was also an instance of bleeped language in The Spy Next Door
(during the bloopers) and Iron Man 2
(in the Tony Stark lawsuit TV broadcast at the beginning of the film)
The 1971 film Cold Turkey
used bleeps in two scenes to cover one character's use of "fuck" in order for the film to gain a MPAA rating of "GP" (now known as PG), instead of an "R" rating. The "f" and the "k" were left audible, but this film is now PG-13 and may have the word uncensored now, because the movie was before the PG-13 rating was used.
In some films in Indian languages, stronger swear words are censored out to keep the film at a BBFC
certification of "12A" or lower, as cinemagoing is regarded as a family experience by the Indian community
.
In "Madea's Big Happy Family
" On "The Maury Povich Show", Madea bleeps continuously.
In the South Park
episode "It Hits the Fan
", the word fag was bleeped whenever a heterosexual character says it, but not a homosexual or bisexual character (see reappropriation
).
In the Arrested Development episode "Bringing Up Buster
," a character on a tirade is bleeped for several consecutive seconds, one word is uttered unbleeped, and then the bleeping continues for several more seconds. Other characters become progressively more horrified as the bleeping goes on.
In the episode "Sailor Mouth
" of SpongeBob SquarePants
, a large number of implied swear words are bleeped out with various ocean-themed sound effects, such as dolphin chirps. Though when Old Man Jenkins drives by on his Jalopy
and honks his horn the characters think someone swore. Similarly, Mythbusters
uses a wide range of sound effects to censor language or "top secret" material.
American comedian Jimmy Kimmel
uses bleeping, as well as pixelization
, in the weekly segment of his self-titled show called "This Week in Unnecessary Censorship," a parody of the FCC's
censorship
rules. In the segment, clips of television footage are bleeped and/or pixelated to suggest much more risqué content than was actually aired. An example of this would be an instance in which someone saying "thank you" would be bleeped to obscure the first four letters of the word "thank," humorously implying that the speaker had said "fuck you" instead.
Other videos have been made in the style of "Unnecessary Censorship" by bleeping out words in other media, in locations where they would suggest risque content. Examples include "The Count
Censored" and "SpongeBob
Censored."
In the episode of Arthur
, "Bleep", D.W. hears a swear which is bleeped out, and starts using it, going as far as to say it to her mother when spying on a neighbor.
In the episode of The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, "Pink Panzer", A cuckoo clock
sound is used as a bleep.
In the show Metalocalypse
, the squeal of a "pinched harmonic" is used as a bleep. On one occasion where Nathan Explosion said multiple swear words in succession, a variety of squeals were used.
The bleep censor is not always used to mask televised profanity, but sometimes subjects deemed taboo, either in reality or as part of a scripted program. On an episode of the television series WWF Superstars of Wrestling
that aired in early 1988, color commentator Jesse "the Body" Ventura
attempted several times to bring up a subject declared taboo by World Wrestling Federation president Jack Tunney
, and was censored each time; Ventura eventually grew so frustrated that he left the broadcast booth toward the end of the show. (The subject in question was the outcome of the February 5, 1988, WWF Heavyweight Championship match between Andre the Giant
and Hulk Hogan
. As the WWF Superstars of Wrestling episode to be aired the weekend of February 6 was produced prior to the airing of The Main Event
(where Andre's title win was booked to take place), the side angle concerning Tunney's "gag order" and Ventura being censored was contrived.)
On The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson
, when Ferguson swears, his mouth is covered with a flag of a particular nation, such as France, and is bleeped with a phrase from that country, such as "Ooh-la-la!" or "Tutsi-Fruitsy!"
In the British puppet-based sitcom Mongrels
all of Vince's swearing is bleeped. Almost all of his lines contain at least one swear word which is bleeped.
On the U.S.-based TV channel Comedy Central
the word "Holocaust" is bleeped out when it is mentioned by a comedian, so as not to offend anyone who may have affected by or are sensitive to the material.
In a Baby Looney Tunes
episode, Baby Daffy
says a bad word (or two which he heard from a garbage man) in anger which is censored with a rubber duck sound.
In an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures
entitled "To Bleep or Not to Bleep" Fowlmouth says swear words that are bleeped out throughout the episode when he is angered. Lots of times he cursed for no reason. Buster Bunny gets him out of swearing first with a robot, but that does not work. Then when he realized Fowlmouth does not swear around little kids, he helped him by placing a kid next to him if he was about to swear. Like this bleep, bleep, bleep, and bleepybleeperson!
In the episode "Wizard Swears" from Potter Puppet Pals
, Professor Albus Dumbledore
says a swear to Harry
, Hermione
, and Ron
that has a lot of censored bleeps they must never repeat to anyone called "The Elder Swear".
, Family Guy
, American Dad!
, The Cleveland Show
, The Simpsons
, Futurama
, Drawn Together
, and especially South Park
and Robot Chicken
use this process to block strong curses that cannot be used on television in the United States, and mainly to air it outside the watershed
, or safe harbor. The 2008 series The Middleman
, which aired on the ABC Family
network, nonetheless included the occasional profanity in dialogue, which was bleeped for humorous purposes (with a black bar or a fuzzy image superimposed over the speaker's mouth). Very rarely, the bleep will be light enough to hear the swear word over it.
During a playing of Scenes From a Hat from the 100th episode of the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?
, one notable scene was "Statements that will get bleeped by the censor." For each word to be bleeped out that was used by Wayne Brady
, Greg Proops
, and Colin Mochrie
(in that order), a black bar was placed over their mouths with the word "CENSORED" in white text.
s are not allowed to use bleeps to obscure swearing under BACC/CAP
guidelines. However, this does not apply to programme trailers or cinema advertisements and "fuck" is beeped out of two cinema advertisements for Johnny Vaughan
's Capital FM show and the cinema advertisement for Family Guy season 5 DVD. An advert for Esure insurance
released in October 2007 uses the censor bleep, as well as a black star placed over the speaker's mouth, to conceal the name of a competitor company the speaker said she used to use. The Comedy Central advert for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
had a version of 'Kyle's mom is a big fat bitch' where vulgarities were bleeped out, though the movie itself did not have censorship, and was given a 15 rating.
A Barnardo's
ad, released in summer 2007, has two versions: one where a boy can be heard saying "fuck off" four times which is restricted to "18" rated cinema screenings, and one where a censor bleep sound obscures the profanity which is still restricted to "15" and "18" rated films. Neither is permitted on UK television.
Trailers for programs containing swearing are usually bleeped until well after the watershed
, and it is very rare for any trailer to use the most severe swearwords uncensored.
The UK version of the Adventureland Red Band trailer (the version shown in cinemas) which showed before Funny People and Drag Me to Hell when it was out in UK cinemas had the profanities bleeped out in order to have a 15 certificate.
has the right to regulate indecent broadcasts. However, the FCC does not actively monitor television broadcasts for indecency violations, nor does it keep a record of television broadcasts. It relies exclusively on documented indecency complaints from television viewers.
The FCC is allowed to enforce indecency laws during 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. local time. In addition, for network broadcasts, offensive material seen during watershed
in one time zone may be subject to fines and prosecution for stations in earlier time zones: for instance, a program with offensive content broadcast at 10 p.m. Eastern Time
/Pacific Time
may fall out of watershed at 9 p.m. Central Time
/Mountain
. Many stations have been fined because of this detail. For example, Comedy Central
only airs uncensored after 1a.m. so in Eastern Time, Central Time, Mountain Time, and Pacific Time all have it past 10 p.m.
Cable and satellite channels are subject to regulations on what the FCC considers "obscenity," but are exempt from the FCC's "indecency" and "profanity" regulations, though many police themselves using the same FCC guidelines.
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
or classified information
Classified information
Classified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation...
with a beep sound
Beep (sound)
A beep is a single tone onomatopoeia, generally made by a computer or a machine.-Use in computers:In some computer terminals, the ASCII character code 7, bell character, outputs an audible beep. The beep is also sometimes used to notify the user when the BIOS is not working or there is some other...
(usually a ), in television or radio. It is mainly used in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
History of the bleep
Bleeping has been used for many years as a means of censorCensorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
ing TV programmes to remove content not suitable for "family" or "daytime" viewing and personal information for privacy. The bleep censor is a software module, manually operated by a broadcast technician
Technician
A technician is a worker in a field of technology who is proficient in the relevant skills and techniques, with a relatively practical understanding of the theoretical principles. Experienced technicians in a specific tool domain typically have intermediate understanding of theory and expert...
. A bleep is sometimes accompanied by a digital blurring of the speaker's mouth or covered with a picture like a black rectangle, in cases where the removed speech may still be easily understood by lip-reading.
On closed caption subtitling
Closed captioning
Closed captioning is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information to individuals who wish to access it...
, bleeped words are usually represented by the phrase "(bleep)", sometimes the phrase "[expletive]", sometimes hyphens (e.g. f--k), and occasionally asterisks (e.g. ****), remaining faithful to the audio track. Where open captions are used (generally in instances where the speaker is not easily understood), a blank is used where the word is bleeped. Occasionally, bleeping is not reflected in the captions, allowing the unedited dialogue to be seen.
Bleeping is normally only used in unscripted programs - documentaries
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, radio features
Radio documentary
A radio documentary or feature is a purely acoustic performance devoted to covering a particular topic in some depth, usually with a mixture of commentary and sound pictures. It is broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD...
, panel game
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
s etc. - since scripted drama
Dramatic programming
Dramatic programming in the UK, or television drama and television drama series in the US, is television program content that is scripted and fictional along the lines of √a traditional drama. This excludes, for example, sports television, television news, reality show and game shows, stand-up...
and comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
are designed to suit the time of broadcast. In the case of comedies, most bleeping may be for humorous purposes.
When film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s are edited for daytime TV, broadcasters usually prefer not to bleep swearing, but cut out the segment containing it, replace the speech with different words, or cover it with silence or a sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
. (See also In film.) In the first example, the film may (unintentionally) become nonsensical or confusing if the removed portion contains an element important to the plot.
The bleep is sometimes used for privacy reasons, concealing for example names and addresses.
Bleeping is commonly used in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
- and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
-language broadcasting, but rarely used in some other languages (such as Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
), displaying the varying attitudes between countries; some are more liberal towards swearing, less inclined to use strong profanities in front of a camera in the first place, or unwilling to censor.
In film
Bleeping in the final cut of a film is extremely rare (alternatives abound anyway), unless it was intended by the directorDirector's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
(as in a fantasy 1960s sitcom scene in Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...
, or for plot purposes in "Kill Bill
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
"). At least one swear word was (intentionally) bleeped out of Talladega Nights, Ocean's Twelve
Ocean's Twelve
Ocean's Twelve is a 2004 American crime comedy film, the sequel to 2001's Ocean's Eleven. Like its predecessor, which was a remake of the 1960 film Ocean's 11, the film used a celebrity ensemble cast. It was released in the United States on December 10, 2004. A third film, Ocean's Thirteen, was...
, Accepted
Accepted
Accepted is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Steve Pink and written by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, and Mark Perez. The main plot centers around a group of would-be college freshmen who, after being rejected from all the colleges and universities to which they had applied, proceed to create...
, Happy Gilmore
Happy Gilmore
Happy Gilmore is a 1996 sports comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and produced by Robert Simonds for Universal Studios. It stars Adam Sandler as the title character, an unsuccessful ice hockey player who discovers a talent for golf. The screenplay was written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy...
, Disaster Movie
Disaster Movie
Disaster Movie is a 2008 parody film. It is written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, and stars Carmen Electra, Kim Kardashian, Matt Lanter, Nicole Parker, Crista Flanagan, Vanessa Minnillo, and Ike Barinholtz...
, The Cat in the Hat
The Cat in the Hat (film)
The Cat in the Hat is a 2003 American slapstick comedy film loosely based on the 1957 book of the same name by Dr. Seuss. It was produced by Brian Grazer and directed by Bo Welch, and stars Mike Myers in the title role of the Cat in the Hat, and Dakota Fanning as Sally...
, Meet the Spartans
Meet the Spartans
Meet the Spartans is a 2008 parody film directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Similar to past movies, such as Scary Movie, Date Movie, and most recently Epic Movie, it directs parodies at various films. Although it references many movies, TV shows, people and pop cultural events, it...
, Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, released in 1999, is the second film in the Austin Powers series that began with 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and continued with Austin Powers in Goldmember. The film was directed by Jay Roach, co-written by Mike Myers and screenwriter...
, and during the credits of Wild Hogs
Wild Hogs
Wild Hogs is a 2007 comedy film directed by Walt Becker and starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy. It was released nationwide in the United States and Canada on March 2, 2007, though preview film screenings were held in select areas on February 24, 2007.-Plot:Doug...
. There was also an instance of bleeped language in The Spy Next Door
The Spy Next Door
The Spy Next Door is a 2010 American spy comedy family film starring Jackie Chan, Amber Valletta, Billy Ray Cyrus and George Lopez. Filming started in late October in New Mexico and was finished in late December 2008. The film was released on January 15, 2010 in the United States. The film was...
(during the bloopers) and Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 is a 2010 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the sequel to 2008's Iron Man, the second film in a planned trilogy and is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Jon...
(in the Tony Stark lawsuit TV broadcast at the beginning of the film)
The 1971 film Cold Turkey
Cold Turkey (film)
Cold Turkey is a 1971 satirical comedy film. It stars Dick Van Dyke plus a long list of comedic actors, several of whom are well known to North American television audiences...
used bleeps in two scenes to cover one character's use of "fuck" in order for the film to gain a MPAA rating of "GP" (now known as PG), instead of an "R" rating. The "f" and the "k" were left audible, but this film is now PG-13 and may have the word uncensored now, because the movie was before the PG-13 rating was used.
In some films in Indian languages, stronger swear words are censored out to keep the film at a BBFC
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
certification of "12A" or lower, as cinemagoing is regarded as a family experience by the Indian community
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
.
In "Madea's Big Happy Family
Madea's Big Happy Family
Madea's Big Happy Family is a 2010 American musical play created, written, produced, and directed by Tyler Perry. It stars Tyler Perry as Mabel "Madea" Simmons, Cassi Davis as Aunt Bam, Palmer Williams, Jr. as Uncle Monroe, and Chandra Currelley-Young as Shirley.Perry began writing "Big Happy...
" On "The Maury Povich Show", Madea bleeps continuously.
Humor
The bleep has been used as a source of humor.In the South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode "It Hits the Fan
It Hits the Fan
"It Hits the Fan" is the first episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 66th episode of the series overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on June 20, 2001. In the episode, the word "shit" is said uncensored on television on...
", the word fag was bleeped whenever a heterosexual character says it, but not a homosexual or bisexual character (see reappropriation
Reappropriation
Reappropriation is the cultural process by which a group reclaims—re-appropriates—terms or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group. For example, since the early 1970s, much terminology referring to homosexuality—such as gay, queer, and faggot—has been reappropriated...
).
In the Arrested Development episode "Bringing Up Buster
Bringing Up Buster
"Bringing Up Buster" is the third episode of the American television series Arrested Development.-Plot:Michael is making cornballs for breakfast in preparation for another tradition: the Sunday bike ride. However, George Michael is ambivalent about the plan...
," a character on a tirade is bleeped for several consecutive seconds, one word is uttered unbleeped, and then the bleeping continues for several more seconds. Other characters become progressively more horrified as the bleeping goes on.
In the episode "Sailor Mouth
Sailor Mouth
"Sailor Mouth" is the 18th episode of the second season of SpongeBob SquarePants. It first aired on Nickelodeon on September 21, 2001. In the episode, SpongeBob and Patrick discover graffiti scribbled on the dumpster of the Krusty Krab. Patrick explains that this "word" is a "sentence enhancer"...
" of SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
, a large number of implied swear words are bleeped out with various ocean-themed sound effects, such as dolphin chirps. Though when Old Man Jenkins drives by on his Jalopy
Jalopy
A jalopy is a decrepit car, often old and in a barely functional state. A jalopy is not a well kept antique car, but a car which is mostly rundown or beaten up. As a slang term in American English, "Jalopy" was noted in 1924 but is now slightly passé...
and honks his horn the characters think someone swore. Similarly, Mythbusters
MythBusters
MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
uses a wide range of sound effects to censor language or "top secret" material.
American comedian Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel
James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel is an American television host and comedian. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money...
uses bleeping, as well as pixelization
Pixelization
Pixelization is a video- and image-editing technique in which an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorship...
, in the weekly segment of his self-titled show called "This Week in Unnecessary Censorship," a parody of the FCC's
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
rules. In the segment, clips of television footage are bleeped and/or pixelated to suggest much more risqué content than was actually aired. An example of this would be an instance in which someone saying "thank you" would be bleeped to obscure the first four letters of the word "thank," humorously implying that the speaker had said "fuck you" instead.
Other videos have been made in the style of "Unnecessary Censorship" by bleeping out words in other media, in locations where they would suggest risque content. Examples include "The Count
Count von Count
Count von Count, often known simply as "The Count", is one of the Muppet characters on Sesame Street, performed by Jerry Nelson. The Count is a vampire modeled after Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Count Dracula.-Description:...
Censored" and "SpongeBob
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
Censored."
In the episode of Arthur
Arthur (TV series)
Arthur is an American/Canadian animated educational television series for children, created by Cookie Jar Group and WGBH for the Public Broadcasting Service...
, "Bleep", D.W. hears a swear which is bleeped out, and starts using it, going as far as to say it to her mother when spying on a neighbor.
In the episode of The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, "Pink Panzer", A cuckoo clock
Cuckoo clock
A cuckoo clock is a clock, typically pendulum-regulated, that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo's call and typically has a mechanical cuckoo that emerges with each note...
sound is used as a bleep.
In the show Metalocalypse
Metalocalypse
Metalocalypse is an American animated television series, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, which premiered on August 6, 2006 on Adult Swim...
, the squeal of a "pinched harmonic" is used as a bleep. On one occasion where Nathan Explosion said multiple swear words in succession, a variety of squeals were used.
The bleep censor is not always used to mask televised profanity, but sometimes subjects deemed taboo, either in reality or as part of a scripted program. On an episode of the television series WWF Superstars of Wrestling
WWF Superstars of Wrestling
WWF Superstars of Wrestling is a professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation . It debuted on September 6, 1986...
that aired in early 1988, color commentator Jesse "the Body" Ventura
Jesse Ventura
James George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...
attempted several times to bring up a subject declared taboo by World Wrestling Federation president Jack Tunney
Jack Tunney
John "Jack" Tunney was a Canadian wrestling promoter. Tunney was known worldwide for his appearances on World Wrestling Federation television as the promotion's figurehead president, suspending wrestlers, stripping them of titles, and ordering matches...
, and was censored each time; Ventura eventually grew so frustrated that he left the broadcast booth toward the end of the show. (The subject in question was the outcome of the February 5, 1988, WWF Heavyweight Championship match between Andre the Giant
André the Giant
André René Roussimoff , best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. His best remembered acting role was that of Fezzik, the giant in the film The Princess Bride...
and Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
. As the WWF Superstars of Wrestling episode to be aired the weekend of February 6 was produced prior to the airing of The Main Event
WWF The Main Event
The Main Event was a professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation . It was a spin-off of the show WWF Saturday Night's Main Event and occasionally aired on NBC on Friday nights. Only the first three The Main Event episodes were shown live on NBC. The final...
(where Andre's title win was booked to take place), the side angle concerning Tunney's "gag order" and Ventura being censored was contrived.)
On The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...
, when Ferguson swears, his mouth is covered with a flag of a particular nation, such as France, and is bleeped with a phrase from that country, such as "Ooh-la-la!" or "Tutsi-Fruitsy!"
In the British puppet-based sitcom Mongrels
Mongrels (TV series)
Mongrels, formerly known under the working titles of We Are Mongrels and The Un-Natural World, is a British puppet-based situation comedy series first broadcast on BBC Three between 22 June and 10 August 2010, with a making-of documentary entitled "Mongrels Uncovered" broadcast on 11 August 2010...
all of Vince's swearing is bleeped. Almost all of his lines contain at least one swear word which is bleeped.
On the U.S.-based TV channel Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
the word "Holocaust" is bleeped out when it is mentioned by a comedian, so as not to offend anyone who may have affected by or are sensitive to the material.
In a Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes is a Canadian-American animated television series that shows Looney Tunes characters as toddlers. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation....
episode, Baby Daffy
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
says a bad word (or two which he heard from a garbage man) in anger which is censored with a rubber duck sound.
In an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
entitled "To Bleep or Not to Bleep" Fowlmouth says swear words that are bleeped out throughout the episode when he is angered. Lots of times he cursed for no reason. Buster Bunny gets him out of swearing first with a robot, but that does not work. Then when he realized Fowlmouth does not swear around little kids, he helped him by placing a kid next to him if he was about to swear. Like this bleep, bleep, bleep, and bleepybleeperson!
In the episode "Wizard Swears" from Potter Puppet Pals
Potter Puppet Pals
Potter Puppet Pals is a web series parodying the Harry Potter novel series by JK Rowling, created by Neil Cicierega.-Airing:The first two episodes were animated, both released in 2003 on Newgrounds. On September 26, 2006, the series was re-launched on YouTube under Cicierega's page as "Potions...
, Professor Albus Dumbledore
Albus Dumbledore
Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a major character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. For most of the series, he is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts...
says a swear to Harry
Harry Potter (character)
Harry James Potter is the title character and main protagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The majority of the books' plot covers seven years in the life of the orphan Potter who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard...
, Hermione
Hermione Granger
Hermione Jean Granger is a fictional character and one of the three protagonists in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She initially appears in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to Hogwarts...
, and Ron
Ron Weasley
Ronald Bilius "Ron" Weasley is a fictional character and one of the three protagonists in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. His first appearance was in the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as the best friend of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger...
that has a lot of censored bleeps they must never repeat to anyone called "The Elder Swear".
On television
Bleeping is commonly used on television programs that use profane words that are forbidden to television networks. Adult comedies such as The Office, SeinfeldSeinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, American Dad!
American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
, The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show is an American animated television series that premiered on September 27, 2009, as a part of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox in the United States...
, The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
, Drawn Together
Drawn Together
Drawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting...
, and especially South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
and Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
use this process to block strong curses that cannot be used on television in the United States, and mainly to air it outside the watershed
Watershed (television)
In television, the term watershed denotes the time period in a television schedule during which programs with adult content can air....
, or safe harbor. The 2008 series The Middleman
The Middleman (TV series)
The Middleman is an American television series. The series, which was developed for television by Javier Grillo-Marxuach for ABC Family, is based on the Viper Comics series, The Middleman, created by Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine...
, which aired on the ABC Family
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
network, nonetheless included the occasional profanity in dialogue, which was bleeped for humorous purposes (with a black bar or a fuzzy image superimposed over the speaker's mouth). Very rarely, the bleep will be light enough to hear the swear word over it.
During a playing of Scenes From a Hat from the 100th episode of the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Whose Line Is It Anyway? is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a British radio programme, it moved to television in 1988 as a series made for the UK's Channel 4, for a 10 series run...
, one notable scene was "Statements that will get bleeped by the censor." For each word to be bleeped out that was used by Wayne Brady
Wayne Brady
Wayne Alphonso Brady is an actor, singer, comedian and television personality, known for his work as a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and as the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show...
, Greg Proops
Greg Proops
Gregory Everett "Greg" Proops is an American actor, stand-up comedian and television host. He is widely known for his work as an improvisational comedian on the UK and U.S. versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway?...
, and Colin Mochrie
Colin Mochrie
Colin Andrew Mochrie is a Scottish Canadian actor and improvisational comedian, most famous for his appearances on the British and US versions of television improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway?.-Early life:...
(in that order), a black bar was placed over their mouths with the word "CENSORED" in white text.
Advertising in the United Kingdom
Television and radio commercialRadio commercial
Commercial radio stations make most of their revenue selling “airtime” to advertisers. Of total media expenditures, radio accounts for 6.9%. Radio advertisements or “spots” are available when a business or service provides valuable consideration, usually cash, in exchange for the station airing...
s are not allowed to use bleeps to obscure swearing under BACC/CAP
Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre
The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre was an NGO which until December 31, 2007 pre-approved most British television advertising. The work of the BACC has been taken over by Clearcast Ltd....
guidelines. However, this does not apply to programme trailers or cinema advertisements and "fuck" is beeped out of two cinema advertisements for Johnny Vaughan
Johnny Vaughan
Jonathan Randall Vaughan is an English broadcaster and journalist. Vaughan has become well known as a television and radio personality and has also built a reputation as a film critic. He co-presented Capital Breakfast alongside Lisa Snowdon on 95.8 Capital FM between 2004 and 2011...
's Capital FM show and the cinema advertisement for Family Guy season 5 DVD. An advert for Esure insurance
Esure
Esure is an internet and telephone based insurance company based in Reigate, Surrey, England. It also has offices in Manchester and Glasgow...
released in October 2007 uses the censor bleep, as well as a black star placed over the speaker's mouth, to conceal the name of a competitor company the speaker said she used to use. The Comedy Central advert for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 animated musical comedy film based on the animated television series South Park, created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The film was directed by Parker, who also stars along with the rest of the regular voice cast from the series, including Stone, Mary...
had a version of 'Kyle's mom is a big fat bitch' where vulgarities were bleeped out, though the movie itself did not have censorship, and was given a 15 rating.
A Barnardo's
Barnardo's
Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children and young people. As of 2010, it spends over £190 million each year on more than 400 local services aimed at helping these same groups...
ad, released in summer 2007, has two versions: one where a boy can be heard saying "fuck off" four times which is restricted to "18" rated cinema screenings, and one where a censor bleep sound obscures the profanity which is still restricted to "15" and "18" rated films. Neither is permitted on UK television.
Trailers for programs containing swearing are usually bleeped until well after the watershed
Watershed (television)
In television, the term watershed denotes the time period in a television schedule during which programs with adult content can air....
, and it is very rare for any trailer to use the most severe swearwords uncensored.
The UK version of the Adventureland Red Band trailer (the version shown in cinemas) which showed before Funny People and Drag Me to Hell when it was out in UK cinemas had the profanities bleeped out in order to have a 15 certificate.
United States
The Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
has the right to regulate indecent broadcasts. However, the FCC does not actively monitor television broadcasts for indecency violations, nor does it keep a record of television broadcasts. It relies exclusively on documented indecency complaints from television viewers.
The FCC is allowed to enforce indecency laws during 6 a.m. – 10 p.m. local time. In addition, for network broadcasts, offensive material seen during watershed
Watershed (television)
In television, the term watershed denotes the time period in a television schedule during which programs with adult content can air....
in one time zone may be subject to fines and prosecution for stations in earlier time zones: for instance, a program with offensive content broadcast at 10 p.m. Eastern Time
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
/Pacific Time
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
may fall out of watershed at 9 p.m. Central Time
Central Time zone
In North America, the Central Time Zone refers to national time zones which observe standard time by subtracting six hours from UTC , and daylight saving, or summer time by subtracting five hours...
/Mountain
Mountain Time Zone
The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time, during the shortest days of autumn and winter , and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time in the spring, summer, and early autumn...
. Many stations have been fined because of this detail. For example, Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
only airs uncensored after 1a.m. so in Eastern Time, Central Time, Mountain Time, and Pacific Time all have it past 10 p.m.
Cable and satellite channels are subject to regulations on what the FCC considers "obscenity," but are exempt from the FCC's "indecency" and "profanity" regulations, though many police themselves using the same FCC guidelines.
New Zealand
The OFLCNZ Enforce what can and cannot be said on television in New Zealand and order television networks to apply the bleep censor. There has been an outcry about this particularly over the OFLC double standards to its application. For example the word "fuck" is generally edited out but the word "shit" is not.See also
- Self-censorshipSelf-censorshipSelf-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own work , out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities of others, without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority...
- ProfanityProfanityProfanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
- Radio editRadio editIn music, a radio edit is a modification to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form...
- Sanitization (classified information)Sanitization (classified information)Sanitization is the process of removing sensitive information from a document or other medium, so that it may be distributed to a broader audience. When dealing with classified information, sanitization attempts to reduce the document's classification level, possibly yielding an unclassified...
a.k.a. redaction - PixelizationPixelizationPixelization is a video- and image-editing technique in which an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorship...
- Tape delay (broadcasting)
- Minced oathMinced oathA minced oath is an expression based on a profanity or a taboo term that has been altered to reduce the objectionable characteristics.Many languages have such expressions...
- Bowdlerization
- Family Viewing HourFamily Viewing HourThe Family Viewing Hour was a policy established by the United States Federal Communications Commission in 1975. Under the policy, each television network in the U.S. had a responsibility to air "family-friendly" programming in the first hour of the prime time lineup...
- The Morning Show with Mike and JulietThe Morning Show with Mike and JulietThe Morning Show with Mike and Juliet is an American syndicated morning talk show. Produced by Fox, the show first aired on January 22, 2007 to a number of markets originally through Fox and MyNetworkTV, most in the Fox Television Stations Group...
, an American talk show that, in 2008, gained notoriety for using a variation of the Bleep censor dubbed a "Bleep photo". - Beep (song)Beep (song)"Beep" is a hip hop song released by American recording group the Pussycat Dolls' from their debut album PCD. "Beep" was a moderate success worldwide, having scored within the top twenty on the majority of the charts on which it was rated...
, which features intentional bleeps - Touchin On My, similar to Beep.