The Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ performance at Super Bowl XLVIII has already caused its share of controversy. The band admitted to miming their rendition of the Blood Sugar Sex Magik hit Give It Away while onstage with Bruno Mars, but apparently their nipples were also a cause for concern.
As Deadspin reports, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who maintain broadcasting standards in the US, received multiple complaints over the group’s performance, with many citing the members’ shirtless antics — one of the group’s trademarks — and lyrics in their gripes.
“I found it indecent that I had to see the nipples of Anthony Kiedis and Flea on the halftime show. Both men and women should have to wear shirts. There are children watching for goodness sake!!!” one complainant writes, leaving it up to readers and the FCC to decide if they’re taking the piss.
In addition to taking exception to Bruno Mars’ lyric, “Your sex takes me to paradise“, from his hit Locked Out Of Heaven, Super Bowl 2014 viewers weren’t impressed with the Chili Peppers’ infamous line, “What I got, you gotta get, and put it in you“. And then there was this:
“THIS PERSON NAMED ANTHONY KIEDIS WAS NAKED TO THE WASTE, THRUSTING HIS PELVIS, SAYING ‘WHAT HE GOT HE GOT TO GIVE IT PUT IT IN YOU. HE IS CLEARLY TALKING ABOUT HIS PENIS. I AM SHOCKED AND OFFENDED THAT THE FCC WOULD ALLOW THIS FILTH.
“FIRST JANET JACKSON TALKING ABOUT BREASTESSES, THEN PAUL MCCARTNEY TALKING ABOUT MARIJUANA, THEN BRUNO MARS TALKING ABOUT MY PENIS, THEN ANTHONY KIEDIS TALKING ABOUT HIS PENIS.”
For others, RHCP’s performance stoked their feminist fire, with one complainant writing in about the FCC’s double standard when it comes to nipples: “So how is it okay for male performers to perform shirtless showing both nipples, yet you sanction nipple showing by Janet Jackson? That’s sexism!”
Watch: Bruno Mars & The Red Hot Chili Peppers – Super Bowl XLVIII Halftime Show
http://youtu.be/B9dJNh85o3Y
