DOCUMENT: Celebrity, Sports

Tom Brady's Cursing Draws Indecency Beefs

FCC complaints filed over QB's expletives

Tom Brady

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Tom Brady F-Word

DECEMBER 16--A recent televised cursing spree by Tom Brady prompted several viewers to write the Federal Communications Commission and lodge complaints that their lip-reading kids were exposed to the NFL star’s blue language.

During the broadcast of the November 30 game pitting Brady’s New England Patriots against the Green Bay Packers, CBS cameras focused more than once on the frustrated quarterback as he let loose with a string of “fucks.”

Though the network did not air audio of the 37-year-old Brady’s exhortations, his curse of choice was obvious.

The FCC received three indecency complaints about Brady (copies of which were released following a Freedom of Information Act request.)

In one complaint, an Indianapolis parent wrote that their “6 year old children know how to read lips even if there is no sound.” The viewer wondered why CBS twice went out of its way to “show Tom Brady screaming the F word on national TV.”

A Pennsylvania grandparent reported that, “My 8 year old grandson was watching the game with me and even commented that he should not have said that.” The complainant added, “I understand the first time it happened that the camera man would not have expected that but to keep the camera on Tom Brady as he kept yelling was uncalled for.”

An Iowa resident criticized CBS broadcasters who “called attention to it by prefacing the clip they showed with, ‘Brady’s reaction after failing to pick up a first down on that series.’”  The complainant noted, “They clearly knew he was saying it and so did my 10 year old son…It was almost as if the announcers got away with it, because they didn’t actually say it. Very unprofessional.”

Brady, who has not won a Super Bowl in almost a decade, is the father of three young children. (3 pages)