Artist: Eminem/ KKMG-FM
Confronting Bodies: FCC
Date of Action: June 2001
Specific Location: Colorado Springs Radio (KKMG-FM), USA
Description of Artwork: "The Real Slim Shady" is a widely-played hip-hop/rap song containing explicit lyrics about sexual acts, sexuality and politics. This version of the song had been previously edited for radio by Eminem's label and further by the station's parent company. (See lyrics below.)
Un-Edited Lyrics: The Real Slim Shady
[Eminem] May I have your attention please? May I have your attention please? Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up? We're gonna have a problem here.. Y'all act like you never seen a white person before Jaws all on the floor like Pam, like Tommy just burst in the door and started whoopin her ass worse than before they first were divorce, throwin her over furniture (Ahh!) It's the return of the... "Ah, wait, no way, you're kidding, he didn't just say what I think he did, did he?" And Dr. Dre said... nothing you idiots! Dr. Dre's dead, he's locked in my basement! (Ha-ha!) Feminist women love Eminem {*vocal turntable: chigga chigga chigga*} "Slim Shady, I'm sick of him Look at him, walkin around grabbin his you-know-what Flippin the you-know-who," "Yeah, but he's so cute though!" Yeah, I probably got a couple of screws up in my head loose But no worse, than what's goin on in your parents' bedrooms Sometimes, I wanna get on TV and just let loose, but can't but it's cool for Tom Green to hump a dead moose "My bum is on your lips, my bum is on your lips" And if I'm lucky, you might just give it a little kiss And that's the message that we deliver to little kids And expect them not to know what a woman's clitoris is Of course they gonna know what intercourse is By the time they hit fourth grade They got the Discovery Channel don't they? "We ain't nothing but mammals.." Well, some of us cannibals who cut other people open like cantaloupes {*SLURP*} But if we can hump dead animals and antelopes then there's no reason that a man and another man can't elope {*EWWW!*} But if you feel like I feel, I got the antidote Women wave your pantyhose, sing the chorus and it goes Chorus: Eminem (repeat 2X) I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up, please stand up, please stand up? [Eminem] Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his raps to sell his records; well I do, so fuck him and fuck you too! You think I give a damn about a Grammy? Half of you critics can't even stomach me, let alone stand me "But Slim, what if you win, wouldn't it be weird?" Why? So you guys could just lie to get me here? So you can, sit me here next to Britney Spears? Shit, Christina Aguilera better switch me chairs so I can sit next to Carson Daly and Fred Durst and hear 'em argue over who she gave head to first You little bitch, put me on blast on MTV "Yeah, he's cute, but I think he's married to Kim, hee-hee!" I should download her audio on MP3 and show the whole world how you gave Eminem VD {*AHHH!*} I'm sick of you little girl and boy groups, all you do is annoy me so I have been sent here to destroy you {*bzzzt*} And there's a million of us just like me who cuss like me; who just don't give a fuck like me who dress like me; walk, talk and act like me and just might be the next best thing but not quite me! Chorus [Eminem] I'm like a head trip to listen to, cause I'm only givin you things you joke about with your friends inside your living room The only difference is I got the balls to say it in front of y'all and I don't gotta be false or sugarcoated at all I just get on the mic and spit it and whether you like to admit it {*ERR*} I just shit it better than ninety percent of you rappers out can Then you wonder how can kids eat up these albums like valiums It's funny; cause at the rate I'm goin when I'm thirty I'll be the only person in the nursin home flirting Pinchin nurses asses when I'm jackin off with Jergens And I'm jerkin but this whole bag of Viagra isn't working And every single person is a Slim Shady lurkin He could be workin at Burger King, spittin on your onion rings {*HACH*} Or in the parkin lot, circling Screaming "I don't give a fuck!" with his windows down and his system up So, will the real Shady please stand up? And put one of those fingers on each hand up? And be proud to be outta your mind and outta control and one more time, loud as you can, how does it go? Chorus 2X [Eminem] Ha ha Guess there's a Slim Shady in all of us Fuck it, let's all stand up
Description of Incident: Following up on a listener complaint, the FCC fined KKMG-FM $7000 for airing the radio edit of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." The FCC complained that the song "contains unmistakable offensive sexual references ... that appear intended to pander and shock." Earlier in 2001, the FCC issued new guidelines indicating that innuendo and context are factors in determining whether a record violates its decency standards, regardless of the specific words.
Results of Incident:
Source: Sonicnet.com.
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Name: Esperanza Center
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Date: 1985 - 1995
Location: North America
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
,Sexual/Gender Orientation
Medium: Film Video
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Artist: Esperanza Center
Confronting Bodies: San Antonio City Council
Date of Action: September 11, 1997
Specific Location: Esperanza Center, San Antonio, Texas
Description of Artwork: The Esperanza Center is an organization that promotes social justice through cultural arts programming and advocating on behalf of people of color, women, lesbians and gay men, the working class and the poor.
Description of Incident: On September 11, 1997 the San Antonio City Council voted to eliminate all city funding to the Esperanza center. The Council made its decision following a campaign that characterized Esperanza as "pro-homosexual," "pro-abortion" and anti-"family values." Esperanza was scheduled to receive over $62,000 and was the only arts organization to be entirely defunded, though city funding to the arts was cut 15% across the board.
Results of Incident: Initially, Esperanza continued its programming with private funds and subsequently proceeded with litigation. In May 2001, Judge Orlando Garcia ruled that the City of San Antonio had violated the First Amendment rights of the Esperanza Center. He found that Esperanza was penalized for expressing its viewpoint-namely the promotion of social and economic justice-through its arts program. The City's decision to remove the group's designated funding from the 1998 budget violated the Constitution's guarantees of freedom of speech. The City's decision to selectively take away all funding from Esperanza, while city funds for other arts organizations were cut only by 15%, violated the equal protection clause. Judge Garcia also found that the city violated procedure while making its decision.
Source: NCAC, www.esperanzacenter.org
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Name: Focus on the Family Advertisement
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Date: 1985 - 1995
Location: North America
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Commercial Advertising
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Artist: Focus on the Family
Confronting Bodies: Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority and a private advertising agency
Date of Action: Early 2000
Specific Location: Florida Bus Shelters
Description of Artwork: An ad vertisement that promoted “Love Won Out”, a one-day conference “addressing, understanding and preventing homosexuality in youth.”
Description of Incident: The Christian Ministry Focus on the Family purchased advertising space from the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. Their controversial ad for a conference that sought to discuss and “prevent” homosexuality was reviewed by a private advertising agency that contracts with the government-funded transit authority. They objected to the language of the ad and subsequently, the ad was pulled.
Results of Incident: On January 11, 2001 Focus on the Family filed a federal lawsuit against the transit authority for violating the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech. Human Rights Campaign advocated on behalf of the transit authority, stating that the ads are public health threats. Spokesperson Wayne Besen pointed to published medical findings that condemn reparation therapy, also known as ex-gay therapy. Focus on the Family does not seek financial reward; instead they want to force the transit authority to run ads for a similar event in the future.
Source: Gay.com, 1.17.01. Liberty Council, 1.12.01
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Name: Guliani against NYC street artists
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Date: 1985 - 1995
,1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Other
Medium: Photography
,Mixed Media
,Painting
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Artist: New York City street artists
Confronting Bodies: The City of New York
Date of Action: 1994-Present
Specific Location: Sidewalks in New York City
Description of Artwork: Artwork of individual artists, ranging in painting, drawings, photographs, sculpture, etc
Description of Incident: Individual artists were arrested, threatened with arrest or harassed by law enforcement officials for attempting to display and sell their creations in public spaces in the City without a general vendors license. Some had their artwork confiscated and damaged.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the ruling that the artists need a vending license to sell their work. They claimed that the City's requirement that appellants be licensed in order to sell their artwork in public spaces constituted an unconstitutional infringement of their First Amendment rights. (See Berry v. City of New York, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.) This was derived from a 1982 law that exempted vendors of newspapers, books and other written matter from requiring a license, consonant with the "principles of free speech and freedom of the press."
Results of Incident: Despite this 1996 decision, police continued to harass and arrest artists. This is particularly the case in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is administered by the parks department and therefore considered by the City an issue independent of the court's ruling. Artists have filed lawsuits against the City of New York and Mayor Giuliani for infringing on their First Amendment rights.
Source: Find Law Resources, NCAC
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Name: Go Ask Alice
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Language
Medium: Literature
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Artist: Go Ask Alice, author anonymous
Confronting Bodies: School Principal, the mother of a student
Date of Action: 1998
Specific Location: A middle school in Tiverton, Rhode Island
Description of Artwork: The book is the diary of an adolescent's struggles with drug addiction and its tragic consequences
Description of Incident: Eighth grade students were reading Go Ask Alice as a class assignment when their teacher collected the books from her students, on orders from the principal who had never read the book. He had received a complaint from a student's mother who objected to the language in the book, after which he demanded that the books be collected immediately from the students and also removed from the library. The principal's actions violated the district's complaint policies and procedures.
Results of Incident: A review committee examined the matter and decided to return the book to the library. The committee was also to consider returning the book to the classroom.
Source: NCAC
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Name: Gwen, Maxine Henderson
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Date: 1985 - 1995
Location: North America
Subject: Nudity
Medium: Painting
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Artist: Maxine Henderson
Confronting Bodies: Laurie Crowder, an assistant superintendent for Murfreesboro City Schools; City Officials
Date of Action: October 1995
Specific Location: City Hall rotunda, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Description of Artwork: This oil painting depicts a seated nude woman with crossed arms and legs; one of her breasts is partially exposed.
Description of Incident: After viewing the painting, Laurie Crowder submitted a sexual harassment complaint to the city Legal Department. She claimed that City Hall was her workplace, and the painting made it a hostile environment. City officials therefore removed the painting
Results of Incident: Henderson filed a suit against the city for violating her First Amendment rights. On March 27, 1997, a U.S. district judge ruled in favor of Henderson, noting the fact that it was a public space. The city's art policy was changed to give the city manager, who enforces harassment policies, final say over rotunda displays.
Source: The Tennessean, 3.1.96, Time Magazine, 3.23.98, NCAC
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Name: Hallwalls' Artists and Models Ball
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Nudity
,Explicit Sexuality
Medium: Video Art
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Artist: Multiple artists including Siew-Wai Kok and Tracey McGuirl/Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center
Confronting Bodies: Anonymous complainant and Buffalo Police
Date of Action: June1, 2001
Specific Location:
Description of Artwork: Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center's annual Artists and Models Ball, a fundraising art event for the center at the Buffalo Convention Center.
*Set within the context of a multi-projector video wall including the work of four artists, one video contained images of nudity and explicit sexual acts (perhaps simulated) apparently taken from an X-rated commercial film.
A second video, by artists Siew-Way Kok and Tracey McGuirl, dealt with issues of sexuality including the artists' own sexuality, representations of sexuality in the media, and sexuality and the internet. This black-and-white video featured nude images, predominantly the midsections of the artists' bodies (Buffalo News, 6.7.01).
Description of Incident: At 11:00 PM during Hallwalls' annual Artists and Models Ball, an anonymous complainant called the police complaining that pornographic movies were being shown to minors. With its late hour and high admission fee, the event was not targeted at children. In fact, only one minor was present - the child of one of the artists. When the officers arrived, the caller escorted them first to the sexually explicit video and they briefly viewed the exhibit. The police then ordered the organizers to turn off one of the tapes. Thereafter, the police inquired about the video by Kok and McGuirl, about which they had learned from the complainant.
Results of Incident: Compliant with the police's instruction, the Hallwalls staff member in charge of the event immediately blocked the projection beam and ejected the tape. One officer stated that Hallwalls should not have been showing the video, but since the staff member shut it off, he would not report the event.
A hired security guard stopped the second video, prior to its inspection by the police. Turning off the second video was neither the decision of the event's coordinators nor that of the police; the guard took it upon himself to stop it in an attempt to preempt the police.
Source: NCAC, The Buffalo News
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Name: Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's Roommate and Public Library access policies
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Sexual/Gender Orientation
Medium: Literature
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Artist: Authors Leslea Newman and Michael Willhoite
Confronting Bodies: Janie Hill, founder and director of the God is Love Evangelistic Ministry
Date of Action: February 1999
Specific Location: Wichita Falls, TX
Description of Artwork: The children's books by Newman and Willhoite tell the story of homosexual parents.
Description of Incident: Janie Hill and other church advocates protested the presence of these two children's books in the city library. She claimed that the books "promote homosexuality in violation of God's will and state law." As a result, the city council voted on the notion of creating a restricted-access area for controversial children's books.
City council member Dan Shine was among four members who voted to reject the bill. Hill called upon Wichita Falls voters to replace the city council member for his stance on the book's controversy at the public library in the upcoming election. She believed that they must replace Shine with a morally strong Christian man.
Results of Incident: As an alternative to a restricted children's section, the council passed a resolution that allowed people to file petitions challenging individual books. If the petitions have at least 300 signatures of library cardholders, the books would have to be moved from the children's section to an adult area of the library. This decision sparked anger and protest among free speech advocates.
In fall 1999, the ACLU filed suit against the city council's resolution, which resulted in returning Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's Roommate back to the children's section.
In fall 2000, a federal court established that library books may not be moved or removed from the library by a petition of 300 signatures, as the city council had legislated.
Source: NCAC, Times Record News, Wichita Falls, TX 1999
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Name: Hulbert Waldroup, political artist
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Painting
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Artist: Hulbert Waldroup
Confronting Bodies: Retinitis and Pigmentosa Foundation
Date of Action: 1998
Specific Location: Illinois State Building, Chicago, IL
Description of Artwork: Six paintings including The Crucifixion, which depicts Bill Clinton on a burning cross wearing the American flag as a loincloth. The painting also features Monica Lewinsky as Jezebel, Linda Tripp as Judas, Kenneth Starr as Pontius Pilate, and Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Virgin Mary.
Description of Incident: Waldroup paid a $225 entrance fee to the charity event exhibit, in which he hung approximately 12 paintings. He encountered the show's administrator removing his paintings the day after the installation on the grounds that they were too political. Waldroup refused to remove his work when the organizers could not immediately reimburse his entrance fee. The state police were called and ultimately arrested the artist for trespassing.
***This was not the first time Waldroup had encountered censorship. His painting, The Devil's Palace, was removed from an exhibit at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. The painting depicts Jesus and the devil sitting at a table laden with a bowl of eyeballs, a severed leg roast garnished with pineapple and ear kabobs. When viewers complained, the show's organizers removed the piece. Waldroup returned with his painting, propping it up on a wall outside the show.
Results of Incident: Waldroup was held for fifteen hour before being released on bail. His paintings were confiscated.
Source: NCAC, National Campaign for Freedom of Expression, The Detroit News 9.14.97.
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Name: State v. Douglas D.
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Other
Medium: Literature
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Artist: 13 year old Douglas D., a student at Oconto County Public School.
Confronting Bodies:
Date of Action: October 1998
Specific Location: Oconto County public school, Wisconsin
Description of Artwork: For a creative writing assignment, Douglas D. wrote the following:
There one lived an old ugly woman her name was Mrs. C that stood for crab. She was a mean old woman that would beat children sencless. I guess that's why she became a teacher.
Well one day she kick a student out of her class & he din't like it. That student was named Dick.
The next morning Dick came to class & in his coat he conseled a machedy. When the teacher told him to shut up he whiped it out & cut her head off.
When the sub came 2 days later she needed a paperclipp so she opened the droor. Ahh she screamed as she found Mrs. C.'s head in the droor.
Description of Incident: The 8th grade teacher, known to her students as "Mrs. C." assigned her students a creative writing exercise. She sent Douglas D. to complete the assignment in the hallway since he was being disruptive in the classroom. Mrs. C. was upset by her student's composition and reported it to the assistant principal.
*Douglas D. later apologized and said that he did not intend the story as a threat. He was given in-school suspension and then returned to a different English class. Then, on November 19, 1998, the police filed a delinquency petition against Douglas, alleging that by submitting a "death threat" to Mrs. C, Douglas had engaged in "abusive conduct under circumstances in which the conduct tends to cause a disturbance," thus violating the disorderly conduct statute. The circuit court ruled that Douglas D. was guilty of disorderly conduct. Accordingly, it ordered that he be placed on formal supervision for one year. Douglas D. appealed the ruling but the Court of Appeals maintained the circuit court's decision. Douglas subsequently filed a petition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Ultimately, they determined his essay was not considered a true threat and therefore ruled that Douglas D.'s essay was protected under the First Amendment. The court reversed the "disorderly conduct" conviction.
Results of Incident: Douglas D. later apologized and said that he did not intend the story as a threat. He was given in-school suspension and then returned to a different English class. Then, on November 19, 1998, the police filed a delinquency petition against Douglas, alleging that by submitting a "death threat" to Mrs. C, Douglas had engaged in "abusive conduct under circumstances in which the conduct tends to cause a disturbance," thus violating the disorderly conduct statute. The circuit court ruled that Douglas D. was guilty of disorderly conduct. Accordingly, it ordered that he be placed on formal supervision for one year. Douglas D. appealed the ruling but the Court of Appeals maintained the circuit court’s decision. Douglas subsequently filed a petition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Ultimately, they determined his essay was not considered a true threat and therefore ruled that Douglas D.’s essay was protected under the First Amendment. The court reversed the “disorderly conduct” conviction.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online, www.courts.state.wi.us/html/sc/99/99-1767.htm
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Name: Jolene Hollen, student artwork raises controversy
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Explicit Sexuality
Medium: Mixed Media
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Artist: Jolene Hollen, The DeRicci Gallery
Confronting Bodies: Administrators and Employees at Edgewood College
Date of Action: May 2001
Specific Location: The DeRicci Gallery, Edgewood College, Madison, Wisconsin
Description of Artwork: The work features a pair of female mannequin legs seated in a chair and an arm cradling an answering machine. Viewers can also listen to a graphic audio tape depicting a phone-sex chat line. The artist says of her work, "This is an attempt to add new dimensions to our understanding of the ways that culture and the dominant hegemonic stance continues to shape our notions of gender, and thus the way we see ourselves and others. The question is, who gets to do the talking?"
Description of Incident: The artwork was displayed in the DeRicci Gallery, which is also a wide hallway that leads to administrative offices at the university. An employee complained to the human resources department, claiming that the artwork created a "hostile workplace."
Results of Incident: The student agreed to move the piece to a less visible part of the gallery. The college planed to seek out another location for future student exhibits.
Source: Startribune.com, Minneapolis/St. Paul,
www.edgewood.edu/info/arts.htm
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Name: Jonathan Allen, W2001 W2002 W2003 W2004
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Installation
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Artist: Jonathan Allen
Confronting Bodies: Jeffery Rosenstock, Producing Director of the Queens Theater in the Park
Date of Action: January 26, 2001
Specific Location: The lounge of the Queens Theater in the Park, New York
Description of Artwork: Four portraits of George W. Bush covered by glass with drawings of women's shoes. This piece suggests that President Bush is no more than a product (hence the shoes), and a corporate commodity.
Description of Incident: Allen's piece, W2001 W2002 W2003 W2004, was scheduled to hang for approximately one month in the New Inside Spoon exhibition at the Queens Theater in the Park. However, after a week, Producing Director Jeffrey Rosenstock removed the work.
Results of Incident: Rosenstock defended his action, claiming it was not censorship. However, he chose to keep Allen's second piece in the show even though he thought it more provocative. It seemed to him that it had a clear message, unlike the more ambiguous W2001 W2002 W2003 W2004. Allen withdrew his other piece, believing he had been the target of censorship.
The theater recognized its action as a mistake and in effort to rectify the incident, Rosenstock invited Allen to do a new show. In September 2001 Allen is scheduled to exhibit both the original pieces as well as new ones that investigate issues of freedom of speech and censorship.
Source: NCAC, A Case of Censorship at Queens Theater in the Park, Greg Fuchs
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Name: Judy Blume, Forever
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Explicit Sexuality
Medium: Literature
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Artist: Judy Blume
Confronting Bodies: Elgin School District U46, Illinois
Date of Action: 1997
Specific Location: Middle School, District U46, Elgin Illinois
Description of Artwork: The novel Forever depicts a first time teenage romance wherein the couple decides to have sex. It's an idyllic affair -- until they're separated that summer...
Description of Incident: The school board removed the novel from the school library in 1997, citing parental complaints about sexuality.
Results of Incident: The decision was challenged in 1999, but the policy remained despite the complaints. The NCAC has urged the school board to reinstate Forever, pointing out that removal of books due to their content is unconstitutional.
Source: NCAC, judyblume.com, American Library Association
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Name: Jock Sturges and Barnes & Noble
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Nudity
Medium: Photography
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Artist: Jock Sturges, Barnes & Noble
Confronting Bodies: Christian Right advocates lead by Dr. James Dobson and Randall Jerry
Date of Action: 1997
Specific Location: United States bookstores
Description of Artwork: Photography books by Jock Sturges, which include pictures of nude children.
Description of Incident: Bookstores, particularly Barnes & Noble and Borders, received requests that Jock Sturges' books be removed for being pornographic. In some locations protestors entered the stores and destroyed their copies. Barnes & Noble was indicted in Alabama and Tennessee on obscenity charges for selling books by Sturges and photographer David Hamilton.
Results of Incident: Barnes & Noble reached a settlement with Tennessee authorities agreeing to treat the materials like material that is harmful to minors. It agreed that in Tennessee it would display the books in blinder racks 5 1/2 feet off the floor or use opaque shrink wrap. The Montgomery, Alabama case was dismissed on a technicality. Otherwise, Barnes & Noble and Borders would not remove the books from their shelves.
Source: American Library Association, NCAC
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Name: David Replica
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Date: 1995 - 2005
Location: North America
Subject: Nudity
Medium: Sculpture
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Artist: A replica of Michelangelo's David
Confronting Bodies: Lake Alfred residents
Date of Action: April 2001
Specific Location: The statue is placed in front of the Fountain and Falls shop, Lake Alfred, Florida
Description of Artwork: A 500 pound, five foot replica of Michelangelo's David
Description of Incident: The owner of the Fountain and Falls shop placed the sculpture outside of their business, which prompted a series of complaints by town residents to City Hall. The City Manager found no legal action to take against the shop owners, but asked that they cover the David with a loincloth as a courtesy to the residents.
Results of Incident: The shop owners bowed to pressure and wrapped a cloth around the figure's waist. Chuck Cole, the shop's manager, said he intends to replace the cloth with a leopard-print bandana. The statue has attracted more attention since the cloth was added.
Source: Orlandosentinel.com, 4.26.01
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