CASE NUMBER: 30/2006 – MÜLLER VS SABC1 – LANGUAGE

The Registrar received a complaint as to the use of crude language and a song with the lyrics “fuck the police”. The SABC responded that the programme was broadcast an hour past the watershed and carried an appropriate age restriction of 16L. It therefore did not believe that there had been any contravention of the Code. The Tribunal held that although this kind of language was always problematic and the allowing of one instance, contextually considered, does not mean that it will always be permitted, we do not believe that the material amounts to a contravention of the Code in this case. The “motherfuckers” was not used in a derogatory manner and the “fuck the police” was said tongue-in-cheek and was clearly not intended to incite to violence in contravention of clause 16.3 of the Code. The complaint was not upheld.