Scott Gries/Picture Group for MTVNew Jersey politicians apparently aren't into The Situation's abs—or anything else about him and his Jersey Shore goombahs.
Irked about MTV's glorification of the moronic behavior of a certain batch of brains-challenged beachgoers, the New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus led by state Sen. Joseph F. Vitale is demanding the cable net cancel the show.
"In your own words, 'MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, doesn't just reflect popular culture—we shape it.' Jersey Shore is a fabrication created by MTV Networks and marketed to represent reality," Vitale writes in a letter to Philippe Dauman, president and CEO of Viacom, MTV's mothership.
Of course, controversy can make for killer ratings. And Jersey Shore's octet of Snooki, Pauly D, Sweetheart and their Seaside Heights housemates have become a hit for hijinks ranging from sharing tanning oil and hot tubs to nightclubbing and the occasional assault.
But that's not going over well with Vitale and his pals, and they're ready to step up.
"The intentional and encouraged use of ethnically derogatory terms to promote a television program with an Italian American cast is unconscionable," writes Vitale.
"Pejorative words including 'guido' and 'guidette' should have been discouraged by network management. In fact, their very use is a breach of Viacom's Global Business Practices Statement requiring a harassment-free workplace environment, standards every Viacom employee is expected to meet."
State lawmakers are calling on advertisers to follow the lead of Domino's Pizza and Dell and boycott Jersey Shore.
MTV reps were not available to comment on the latest brouhaha.
But Viacom responded to the criticism last month by making like National Geographic: "The show continues MTV's history of documenting various subcultures, rites of passage of young people, and the ways they self-identify."
Right. And Tony Soprano was a waste-management consultant.
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Find out what it costs to party with the Jersey Shore cast here.