So That's What the "X" Is For: X Factor Under Fire Over Full-Frontal Contestant

PTC files indecency complaint against show after blogger Geo Godley drops trou during season-opening audition show; group also seeking to amend show's rating from TV-PG

By Gina Serpe Sep 23, 2011 3:17 PMTags

Note to future reality show contestants: pants on the ground was only funny the first time. When it wasn't taken quite so literally.

Anyone who witnessed the monstrosity that was 43-year-old blogger Geo Godley's X Factor audition Wednesday night had to know this was coming, and the ever-watchful Parents Television Council hasn't disappointed, filing an indecency complaint with the FCC after he at least appeared to go full monty on the judges and audience for the majority of his audition.

So disturbing was the audition—made doubly offensive by his off-key (dare we say pitchy) warbling—that Paula Abdul even left the arena and proceeded directly to a bathroom, where she proceeded to make gagging noises and refused to return until he was off the stage.

There has been no immediate comment from Fox or Godley on the incident or the criticism

As for the PTC, the conservative media watchdog notes that the footage was aired just after 9 p.m., an hour at which indecent content is still prohibited on broadcast television. However, this obviously isn't Fox's first time at the rodeo, and at no point was an nudity visible to the home viewer, thanks to a giant red "X" censoring Geo's bits and pieces—though the judges' and audience's reactions to the performance of "I'm a Stud," complete with walkouts, seemed to indicate that they were not treated to such a blocked view (though why he wasn't then arrested for indecent exposure is anyone's guess).

"What the bloody hell was that?" Simon Cowell said after Godley had finished (and yes, they allowed him to belt out two whole verses of his song before killing the music). "I don't know what you're thinking, genuinely."

But it was L.A. Reid's verdict of the performance that drew the loudest cheers from the crowd, telling Godley that his performance was "offensive, disgusting, distasteful, upsetting," and told security to "get him out of the building."

"Based upon contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, the PTC adds to Reid's description the title 'indecent,' " said PTC President Tim Winter.

"If Godley performed his act in public, he would have been arrested. But if he performs it in front of a Fox camera, his act is beamed via the public airwaves into every home in the nation.

"The prolonged, previously videotaped footage of a contestant dancing nude on the X Factor stage represents a conscious decision by the producers—with the approval of the network's broadcast standards department—to intentionally air this content in front of millions of families during hours when they knew full well that children would be watching."

Winter went on to slam the show's "family-friendly" appeal and suggested that "perhaps the 'X' in X Factor stands for the MPAA rating."

And speaking of ratings, the PTC has also taken issue with the TV-PG content rating given to the show, saying it "is not just inaccurate, it is fraudulent. We call on the amorphous Content Ratings Review Board to immediately investigate this incident and hold Fox accountable for violating the spirit and the letter of the content ratings system, which can only be described at this point as rigged and blatantly inaccurate.

"While we understand the entertainment hook that comes from the occasional train wreck, something so inherently and patently offensive as this obscene performance is more than a sucker punch; it is a violation of Fox stations' broadcast licenses. We have filed a complaint with the FCC and are urging our members and other concerned citizens to follow suit."

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