We sure have come a long way since Al Goldstein of Screw magazine fame had his TV show on New York’s cable access station. I bet how you take that (ie, good or bad) in the context of this story tells a lot about your political and/or religious leanings.
High Court says no free speech for penis
Michigan’s Supreme Court Friday let stand the indecent exposure conviction of a man who used his penis as a character on his cable access TV show.Viewer complaints led prosecutors to file the charge against Timothy Huffman for a 2000 show broadcast over a Grand Rapids, Mich., public access channel. During the show, Huffman used his penis as a stand-up comic.
He appealed his conviction to the state’s highest court, claiming his right to free speech had been violated.
However, the Supreme Court issued a three-sentence ruling saying justices were “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court,” the Detroit Free Press reported.After Michigan’s Court of Appeals earlier upheld the verdict, Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Tim McMorrow told the Free Press: “This is really not a First Amendment case. The First Amendment protects his right to an opinion, not the right to appear naked on TV.”
This guy should try to get a part in the Vagina Monologues. That seems to be protected speech.
“… The First Amendment protects his right to an opinion, not the right to appear naked on TV.”
I’m glad to know unexpressed opinions are protected from censure, and I’ll keep my opinions to myself in order to prevent entanglement with the justice system.
No one appeared naked on TV…..
Don’t the TVs in Michigan have the ability to change the channel? If ya don’t like it, don’t watch it !!!
At the age of fifty-years I have to decide what really pisses me off. And this shouldn’t be important – like, who cares? Whatever.
Some people have too much time or too much money and they want to care about everything. I guess we’ll call them the New Age Fascists. Wouldn’t want to use a sexist term like the “women-who-lunch”. But Real Men don’t tell other men how to live their lives. Chicks will.
I care about my “love” life. I don’t care enough about other peoples’ sex lives to spend moeny searching the ‘net for home-made uploads. It’s the critics who’ve elevated this to a time-wasting pastime. Next!!
If his show is ever shown on Japanese TV, viewers there will have no idea what’s happening.
What happened to the great pic of the guy in the penis suit.Are we censoring ourselves now?
There is a reason the the PUBLIC air waves are regulated by the FCC. because they are in public trust, there are just some things that are not premited on the public air waves. If he did it on a cable station, there would be no problem, but he did it on a station that is broadcasted over the public air waves.
GRTV is cablecast on paid cable TV only…..it cannot be picked up by rabbit ears and one must subscribe to the local cable company.
You are incorrect about my TV shows being broadcast over the public airwaves…….this is NOT true. Both of my late night adult comedy/musical variety shows are on paid cable and are cablecast directly into your home. Thank you for your support and the exposure on this website.
Tim: Typical misuse of the term ‘broadcast.’ The AP (who wrote the story I quoted) should have used ‘cablecast.”
The cable TV subscriber who lodged the complaint is none other than the friend of an assistant prosecutor who spear headed the prosecution. The subscriber is just that, not the victim of a sex crime.
Even a third grader knows the difference between reality and a TV show. It is just a movie/motion picture.
Ironically, the largest all nude strip club in the state of Michigan is located right down the street from the Office of the Kent County Prosecuting Attorney in downtown Grand Rapids. The expressive conduct is constitutionally protected, according to recent federal court judges. The court sanctioned the office of the G.R. City Atty to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for bothering the court with this nonsense.
Stated differently, the prosecutor’s claim that the First Amendment only protects “opinions” is untrue and he knows it — the proof is a few blocks from his office at 82 Ionia Avenue N.W. (– located right above a Gay Bar. ) Traditional values town — har har hardy har har.