Daddy… what’s a gangbang?
During a one on one interview segment on the Sunday, April 8, 2012 episode of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, singer Aubrey O’Day made a rather explicit comment, which I tweeted about:
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Did @AubreyODay just say @ArsenioOFFICIAL & @ClayAiken are going to gangbang @Teresa_Giudice? WTF?!? — smile #CelebrityApprentice
Sun, Apr 08 2012 22:01:40
I’ve embedded the episode below, but it’s hosted on YouTube, so hopefully it’s still there by the time you read this. The moment in question is at 43:50-44:03.
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The Celebrity Apprentice Season 12 Episode 8 : Ad Hawk
Mon, Apr 09 2012 16:27:07
Now, any reasonable adult who knows the definition of the word gangbang would surmise that Ms. O’Day misspoke, for whatever reason. Just for the sake of clarity, here’s the dictionary definition of gangbang, courtesy of Merriam-Webster, because they should know, right?
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Definition of gang bang from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary with audio pronunciations, thesaurus, Word of the Day, and word games.
Surely, Ms. O’Day didn’t mean to suggest that there would be group sex or gang rape going on later in the proceedings. It was clear to me, and should have been to anyone with common sense, that Ms. O’Day was explaining that should their team lose, Arsenio Hall and Clay Aiken would join forces against Teresa Giudice in assigning responsibility for the failure. Simply put, Messrs. Hall and Aiken would gang up on Ms. Guidice, which I am certain what Ms. O’Day had meant to say.
I wasn’t surprised that she misspoke, it happens. People are people and we all make mistakes. My tweet wasn’t even meant to be critical of Ms. O’Day. It was a funny goof, I like to think she has a sense of humor about it and we’re all laughing together. When she saw it, her response was probably along the lines of, “Wow, I can’t believe I said that and I can’t believe they didn’t beep it.” The second part of that was really what my WTF?!? tweet was about; the fact that not only did that clip make it through to the broadcast edit, but no one at NBC’s Standards & Practices Department thought it needed to be censored, as expressed in this later tweets:
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This is only rated TV-PG? I would think it would have been at least a 14 for suggestive language — smile #CelebrityApprentice
Sun, Apr 08 2012 22:08:15
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Not be a hypocrite, I tweet plenty of outrageous comments, but I’m not representing a charity on national TV — smile #CelebrityApprentice
Sun, Apr 08 2012 22:09:33
Did you notice that last one had an error in it? If you caught it, good for you! It illustrates my point that despite their best efforts, people make mistakes. Television networks make mistakes too, like NBC did when they allowed that segment to air as is, and then in my opinion, failed to provide a proper parental advisory for the content. Should one reasonably expect to hear terms such as gangbang or choach, used by Mr. Aiken a few weeks back, on what is ostensibly a business program? I would say not, which is all the more reason a firmer hand needs to be taken with questionable material on Celebrity Apprentice.
Children watch television. While it’s up to parents to raise their children and not television networks, it’s helpful for parents to have television networks provide them with adequate information regarding potentially offensive content so parents can be properly prepared to navigate their children through the murky waters of commercial television broadcasts. The two general rules of thumb when it comes to what to censor or label on over the air broadcasts are:
1. Generally accepted obscenities and profanities.
2. Vulgarities that could lead to potentially awkward conversations that happen way ahead of schedule. As in:
Someone’s ten year old daughter asking, “Daddy… what’s a gangbang?” because her favorite singer just said it on a PG rated business show, nationally broadcast by a commercial network on Sunday night. Why do I even give a fuck about this? I’m coming to that.
My WTF?!? tweet got picked up and retweeted by a lot of people. Clay Aiken shrewdly saved his retweet for that point in the West Coast broadcast, because he knows good material when he reads it:
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@lowereastsmile: Did @AubreyODay just say @ArsenioOFFICIAL & @ClayAiken are going to gangbang @Teresa_Giudice? WTF?!? #CelebrityApprentice
Mon, Apr 09 2012 01:01:01
Again, it was a funny moment for all the reasons I outlined above. A lot of people had the same reaction I did, so they retweeted me, because I said it all. What more can you say, right? A lot apparently, I’ve been working on this piece for about an hour already. This tweet directed at me is why:
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Hip/Hop term=Set Up! Get ur mind out of gutter RT @clayaiken: @lowereastsmile: Did @AubreyODay just say … m.tmi.me/o6rNY
Mon, Apr 09 2012 04:31:32
This really bugged me on a couple of levels. Not the “mind out of the gutter” part, that bit is fair. What bothered me was the claim that gangbang is a hip-hop term. If you checked out the definition above, you already know its origin predates hip-hop. I grew up with hip-hop, or rather, we grew up together. Hip-hop was born on the streets of New York, its growth parallels my own. I don’t hold hip-hop sacred, but I do have a respect for it. Whenever someone casually throws around hip-hop as the origin of everything profane, it denigrates hip-hop unfairly, and glosses over the true origins of many societal problems.
As such, I felt compelled to clarify the origin and definition of gangbang for this person, but it suddenly occurred to me: If this person doesn’t know its definition, is it because they aren’t old enough to? Should I really be the one to tell them? I felt I should say something, because if this person is a child that really believes that gangbang is synonymous with gang up, due to some misguided loyalty to Aubrey O’Day, that could lead to some heavy shit. For example:
Dad: How was school today dear?
14 Year Old Girl: Dad, you wouldn’t believe it! I was 5 minutes late and the Principal, The Guidance Counselor and The Dean totally gangbanged me in detention. Hard. It was so unfair.
CUT TO: News footage of Dad on trial for manslaughtering his daughter’s school administration over a misunderstanding that could have been averted through judicious beeping on the part of NBC’s Standards & Practices Department.
Well, since NBC dropped the ball, it fell to me. Still, I didn’t want to actually be explicit, better to err on the side of caution and all that, but I also wanted to uphold the good name of hip-hop (huh?) so I tweeted this response:
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.@CyberHousewives @clayaiken @aubreyoday Gangbang ISN’T a hip hop term. Google it; be sure to have SafeSearch off or you get no hits — smile
Mon, Apr 09 2012 13:52:57
Yes, I realize that this person would find a lot of porn in that search, but that’s where I found the dictionary definition of it as well, so there. The goal would be achieved, this person would know that the term gangbang should not be used in polite company and I will have possibly saved lives, because I’m such a fucking samaritan. However, this person took umbrage at learning some new shit from me, and replied with the following:
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@lowereastsmile it’s Still What she meant (Take her outta the game together) wherever the “term” originated.. Answered w/out G 😉
Mon, Apr 09 2012 14:20:37
What this person fails to realize is that they are flaunting their own ignorance as if it’s a badge of honor. I understand the sentiment Aubrey O’Day was trying to convey. My point is that gangbang doesn’t mean that, and she misspoke. This person then punctuates it by pointing out they didn’t need Google to know what Ms. O’Day meant, in an effort to seem, well, in the know, I guess. They missed my point. I wasn’t directing them to Google to find out what Aubrey O’Day meant, I wanted them to find out that gangbang means something else entirely. But, of course, this person already knew that:
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@lowereastsmile @clayaiken @aubreyoday I’m Not Stupid.. I don’t care to see Porno!! *smh*
Mon, Apr 09 2012 14:22:04
So this person knew that Aubrey O’Day misspoke, but tried to convince me that she meant it in a ‘slang’ way. Well, whenever someone casually tries to redefine a vulgarity in an effort to make it a socially acceptable term rather than accept that someone else, mind you, misspoke, they denigrate the entire English language. As for as whether or not this person is stupid, I can’t say. Generally, people who aren’t stupid don’t feel the need to actually point out they aren’t stupid, and they certainly don’t express it that way. I, for example, happen to be one of the smartest bastards in the whole of existence; my point being, I’m not someone you want to argue semantics with.
I would have let this go, but young people seem to think that gangbang is exactly what Aubrey O’Day meant to say. Here’s another tweet I got a couple of days later:
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@clayaiken @lowereastsmile @aubreyoday @arsenioofficial @teresa_giudice she meant team up an bash her like u did to Aubrey the week before
Wed, Apr 11 2012 11:47:44
Yeah, I know that. I hope you now understand my point. If you don’t want to take if from me, I’ll tell you what my response should have been in the first place: go ask, “Daddy, what’s a gangbang?”
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