Posted on 03/29/2004 7:55:49 AM PST by SB00
Toronto morning show hosts suspended after Steve-O makes crass appearance
ANGELA PACIENZA Canadian Press
March 27, 2004
TORONTO (CP) - Gross-out TV personality Steve-O made a mess Friday with his brutish antics on a Toronto morning radio show.
After a series of sexually suggestive and graphic on-air pranks, he was pulled off the show and the popular radio hosts running it were suspended. Steve-O, Chris Pontius and Weeman of MTV's Jackass were in the city promoting the Don't Try This At Home tour, which is making its rounds - complete with bloody stunts from self-inflicted torture - in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The Edge, 102.1 FM, which is promoting the tour, was scheduled to have the troupe co-host The Dean Blundell Show shortly after 7 a.m.
Program director Alan Cross said the group and its handlers had agreed to adhere to guidelines regarding graphic content and foul language.
But after showing up late, bare foot, shirtless and bleary-eyed, they "immediately reneged on their promises once the show began."
In typical bad boy style, Steve-O urinated on the studio floor and performed a gag he called Unwrapping the Mummy, using duct tape and his genitalia.
In reaction, management suspended without pay, hosts Dean Blundell, Jason Barr and Todd Shapiro.
The rock music station will meet this weekend to discuss how long the suspension would last, and whether the show, which airs weekday mornings from 5:30 to 10 a.m., would be on Monday. The program will also be charged an internal fine by the station, said Cross.
Given their reputation, the stunts should have come as no surprise, said Jason Berk, Steve-O's lawyer. After all, Steve-O once sliced his tongue open with broken glass. Another time he stapled his scrotum to his thighs.
"If you want to run an ultra conservative radio show or even a safe, conservative show, be careful about the people you pick to come on," Berk said from his New York office. "These guys are Jackass. They know that they're unpredictable people. They took a risk bringing them on, it didn't work out the way they wanted and they asked them to leave the show. I can't say it's unexpected."
But Cross said the station was very careful in setting out parameters for the appearance.
"We told them at the outset, 'There cannot be any swearing on the air. You cannot do the sort of stuff that you do on your videos at our radio station'," he said.
There were about 50 people in the studio audience watching the antics. Several dozen more were waiting outside for a glimpse of the TV stars.
Having received numerous e-mails about the show's content, Cross said he doesn't think he overreacted to the stunts.
"The last thing I need is for the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) to get involved. Given the climate in the United States we don't want to draw any undo attention to ourselves just in case that sort of backlash washes over the border," he said, referring to the fallout of Janet Jackson's breast exposure during the Super Bowl halftime show.
Reached at home, Blundell said the suspension was "unfair."
"I understand that precedent has to be set but of course I'm not happy with it and I'll have something to say about it," he said. "It's frustrating that we're held accountable for the actions of our guests. It gets to the point where you're not allowed to do anything that's compelling anymore."
Blundell, who has been cited by the CRTC in the past, said the hosts were in complete control of the comedians.
"I thought it was funny and compelling. I thought people wanted to hear what these guys had to say and have a laugh."
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March 26, 2004 Toronto, Canada) Steve-O, Chris Pontius and “Wee Man”, in Toronto promoting the “Steve-O's Don't Try This At Home Tour,” were scheduled to co-host the Dean Blundell morning show on Friday, March 26. The troupe is notorious for a performing a variety of tasteless stunts on MTV's Jackass series.
Although they promised to adhere to strict guidelines regarding graphic content and foul language before being allowed in the studio, they immediately reneged on their promises once the show began.
Following several questionable ‘stunts' and repeated use of profanities, Program Director Alan Cross ordered the interview cut and the Steve-O team ejected. Before security physically removed him from the studio, Steve-O managed to urinate on the floor (in front of a live audience) and performed a stunt involving duct tape and his genitalia called “Unwrapping the Mummy.”
“This was material inappropriate for radio,” said Cross. “The members of the Dean Blundell Show are very aware of our programming policies. Because they didn't maintain control over the interview, because they clearly encouraged the on-air antics and because they didn't cut the interview when instructed to do so, Dean Blundell, Jason Barr and Todd Shapiro have all been suspended without pay effective immediately.”
The morning show will also be fined an undisclosed amount.
102.1 the Edge has banned the Steve-O crew from the studio and apologizes to its audience for any offensive material during the broadcast.
For more information, contact:
Alan Cross Program Director 102.1 the Edge
To Comment, please call: (416) 416.872 EDGE To Email, please visit edge.ca and click on "Edge Contacts"
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