YOU heard a whole lot of cussin’ and fussin’ coming out of the mouth of Mike Tyson if you were watching Fox News Channel this past weekend.
The cable channel likely made history of a sort when it aired an uncensored interview with Tyson that contained more unbleeped f-words in a single show than have likely ever been heard before on a cable channel other than HBO.
Nor was the airing of all that profanity accidental. Fox News execs made the decision to air Tyson’s answers unfiltered based on what they perceived as the interview’s news value.
Interviewer Rita Cosby warned viewers about the language at the outset of her weekend show, “FoxWire.” The pre-taped interview aired at 10 p.m. Saturday and was re-aired Sunday night, also at 10.
“During our interview,” Cosby said, “Tyson shocked us . . . with his crude and racially charged language, something he is known for. Because of this, we as a news organization really struggled about whether we should delete the profanities and risk altering his message or let his message and his words speak for themselves.
“We want to warn you, this is not an interview children should see.”
She reiterated the warning a few moments later (and sometime later in the telecast) before beginning the interview, which had been taped last week in Maui, where Tyson was preparing for his upcoming heavyweight title fight against Lennox Lewis June 8 in Memphis.
In the portions of the interview that were aired, Tyson used the f-word 12 times – as in: “white mother f- – – – r” (a reference to an unnamed shrink he visited for a time), “crazy mother f- – – – r” (a description of how others perceive him), and “I just said, ‘F- – – it’ ” (describing how rumors that Michael Jordan was unfaithful to his wife influenced Tyson to cheat on his own spouse).
When he wasn’t using profanity, Tyson found other ways to shock. Describing his personality as “penis-centered,” he complained about the difficulty of finding remedies to control his mood swings. He said at least one anti-depressant drug he tried, Zoloft, rendered him impotent, which caused him to lose his temper all over again, drug or no drug.
“I’m so d- – – conscious,” Tyson said, using a slang word for the male sex organ that was not bleeped, “where, you know, I’m taking Zoloft and I don’t get an erection. I’m just gone then, man. I’m just gone.”
He also called Cosby a “whore” when he struggled to define the many sides of his own personality. “I’m many people, many things,” he said. “Just like here, I know I’m sure at times you’re a lady in the streets and a whore on the sheets. . . .
“Whether you’re a good sister, you’re a good aunt, I’m sure you’re a good daughter, but you’re many things,” Tyson said. “You know what I mean, you’re a pain in the ass to some people.”
“To a lot of people,” answered Cosby, who seemed to remain cool throughout the interview.
While profanity is making inroads these days on TV, some words – particularly the f-word – still have the ability to shock when heard on TV. Just last week, Ozzy Osbourne’s use of the word on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” got by the NBC censors in one instance, but was quickly bleeped for the show’s West Coast feed.
MTV bleeps the profanity on Ozzy’s TV show, “The Osbournes,” but the censoring is more for comic effect since the words he uses are obvious to all.
Other words, such as “a- -” (slang for backside), “t- – s” (slang for female breasts) and “p- – – -” (slang for a male sex organ), have all come into wide usage lately on TV.
And Comedy Central’s “South Park” repeatedly used the word “s- – -” (slang for excrement) in a recent episode.
Perhaps the reaction from viewers to Fox News Channel’s Tyson interview is a sign that the public isn’t all that concerned about profanity on TV, particularly on a news program at 10 o’clock at night.
What was the reaction? According to a Fox News Channel spokesman, there was none.