Some may be thinking f-bomb when they see the latest tab from their grocery story, but for a WNBC-TV newscaster, it was incorrect footage to go along with a promo on a story on that topic that elicited the taboo expletive. The gaffe went out live over the air about a half hour before the 11PM newscast. Sue Simmons is the guilty party – when the wrong footage went up during a live promo, she said “What the @#$% are you doing?” About ten minutes into the subsequent newscast, she said "I have to acknowledge an unfortunate incident," she told viewers. "I used a word that many people find offensive. It was a mistake I made and I’m truly sorry."
RBR/TVBR observation: Once again, we have an incident that was specifically exonerated in the indecency guidelines Michael Powell’s FCC put out a few years back. The FCC will probably avoid any quick action on this now, since the fleeting expletive case is awaiting a Supreme Court hearing. But in our humble opinion, there is no way this qualifies as actionable indecency by the definition we had before before the wardrobe malfunction.
