FCC Won’t Penalize Broadcasters for Saying ‘Redskins’

A challenge to the name of the Washington Redskins was shot down by the Federal Communications Commission, which ruled that broadcasters can say the word “Redskins” on-air.

The challenge was brought to the FCC by George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf III, who argued that a Washington-area radio station should have its license revoked for using a racial slur on air, and, thereby, violating the FCC’s anti-profanity rule. If the FCC ruled in his favor, Banzhaf argued that it could apply to other radio stations that used the term.

But, according to the FCC, racial slurs, even the slurriest of slurs, aren’t necessarily profanity. “Because the law defines profanity as sexual or excretory in nature, we cannot find the word profane,” the FCC’s media bureau said in a notice released today.

So far, despite protests from the Native American community, Redskins owner Dan Snyder refuses to change the team’s name to a word, any word, that is not “Redskins,” and, frankly, we were surprised that the Redskins battle reared its head again before the year ended. But should he choose to, he could easily change its name to something not “sexual or excretory in nature,” and would quite easily get away with it.

[h/t Re/Code]
[Image via dean bertoncelj / Shutterstock.com]

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