Not A Halftime Show for the Nelsons

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes", February 2, 2003, that has been edited for clarity.

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: It's the day after the Super Bowl. People are talking more about the halftime show than the actual game.

Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's now notorious duet has some viewers outraged. The CBS News, the National Football League and MTV have all released statements condemning the revealing performance. The Federal Communications Commission says it's investigating.

So did Justin and Janet go too far?

Joining us now from Los Angeles is radio talk show host Leslie Marshal. And in Washington, Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin.

Michelle, you have the head of the FCC talking about this, the chief regulator. Do we want the government stepping in and deciding what we should or should not see? Do you really want the government getting more involved in regulating content, based on what happened in the Super Bowl yesterday?

MICHELLE MALKIN, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: They are not getting more involved, Alan. They're doing their job.

These rules are on the books. FCC Rules governing indecency and obscenity between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The family hour has been completely obliterated.

Look at this. The gyrating, the bump and grinding. You -- Tell me, Alan, you're not totally disgusted.

COLMES: No, I'm not totally disgusted. I think too much is being made of it.

MALKIN: Millions of kids across the country on Sunday night watching this.

COLMES: I'm looking at two people dancing.

MALKIN: And you're going to say that it's not a big deal?

COLMES: No, it's not. I think so much is being made of this. It's being blown way out of proportion.

We talked like this in 1954 when Elvis did the Ed Sullivan show and this -- We're seeing two people dancing and having a good time.

Leslie, your reaction to this?

LESLIE MARSHAL, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, I -- Not just because I love you, Alan, but I agree with you on this wholeheartedly.

If you watch other programs such as "Survivor" on CBS, where people are scantily clad. If you watch some of the dating shows, the soap operas on every network, the FCC is definitely not doing their job if we're worried about gyrating and being scantily clad and body parts being shown which you can clearly see on various networks, especially on cable networks.

So I think this is ludicrous...

MALKIN: No, no, no. Hold on.

MARSHAL: ... that the American people -- I think it's ludicrous that the American people and the conservatives are being so hypocritical. Is this just bad because a nipple was shown? Is that what the problem is, because a nipple was shown?

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Hang on. Hang on. You know, it's more than this.

You know, this is one of the biggest TV viewing days of the year, Leslie. And you know what? A lot of people would like to allow their kids to watch the Super Bowl and not have to be confronted with over-sexuality and nudity on the halftime show.

And if you don't get that and Alan doesn't get that and all you liberals don't seem to get that, you'll never be in touch with the American people. Because every parent listening right now doesn't want their kids watching this garbage, and if you...

MARSHAL: Well, Sean, first of all, you're assuming I'm not a parent. Second of all, I am very much an American.

HANNITY: Well, you're a liberal parent. There's a difference.

MARSHAL: Sean, come on. Third of all, I believe that I have the equipment to birth a baby, all right?

HANNITY: Thank you. Thank you for sharing that with us. I never would have known.

MARSHAL: Third of all, I honestly, Sean, if I had children watching the Super Bowl, without Janet Jackson's breast, nipple, boob, whatever you want to call it issue, I have a problem with the bumping and gyrating and grinding that the halftime show has been for years.

HANNITY: Let me -- Let me go to Michelle.

MARSHAL: This has not been a Harriet and Nelson halftime show for.

HANNITY: Michelle, the point is, you know, you want to be able to let your kids watch it, but here it is. You've got Britney doing her little thing with Madonna. It's like they're all trying to outdo each other, and they this is what they think is going to sell.

And I don't buy for one minute, Michelle, not for one second, all the apologies, all the shock and outrage by MTV and CBS. I think they're full of baloney. What do you think?

MALKIN: They are full of baloney. You're absolutely right, Sean, about that. And in this case, as always, the cover-up is worse than the crime. The lies from CBS, the institutional arrogance, the corporate disrespect for Americans.

HANNITY: It was a wardrobe malfunction.

COLMES: That's right.

MALKIN: It was a morality malfunction.

HANNITY: Leslie, of course, ecstatic over the big move by Janet Jackson yesterday.

What -- Between you and Alan, I can't believe what I'm hearing.

Michelle, what should happen here? I mean, obviously Michael Powell shares the outrage, I think, of many American families. And you know, it's like -- you know what the sad part is? Let me tell you what this is.

Two points here. We bombard our kids with sex, No. 1, Michelle. And No. 2, I think about liberals lecturing us about how the world sees us in the world. We've got guys fighting around the world. And this is what the world sees about us.

And I'm thinking, is this what we want to project to the world?

MALKIN: Yes, that's a good question, Sean. Eighty-nine million people watching this, watching the message that America revels in being a cultural cesspool.

And the fact that CBS says that it didn't expect this and wasn't totally unprepared for this. Come on, watch MTV any day of the week. This is what you get. If you want...

HANNITY: The song says that by the end of the song, we're going to see you naked. You're warned about shocking moments with Janet coming up.

And of course, I don't think she had that little piece of jewelry there, had she not thought somebody was going to see it.

MALKIN: Right. Exactly. It's really strains credulity to believe this was not an accident. Which raises the question, and I want to address Leslie's point about hypocrisy. You want to talk about liberal hypocrisy. Where are all the feminists?

If this in fact was not planned, if this was not an accident, why isn't Justin Timberlake being arrested for sexual assault?

MARSHAL: Well, first, Michelle, I'd love to answer that. You know, you make a very good point.

Because when I was asked to be on the show, one of the things that you struggle with -- and I'm sure you do as a woman as well -- that when you're a liberal and a feminist there sometimes becomes that line that keeps coming down to...

HANNITY: The hypocrisy line.

MARSHAL: ... the objectification of women by men. Now, let's talk about what the Super Bowl was about.

Although it's supposed to be all of a sudden this family values TV viewing night for America, the reality is, if you want to look at the facts and the numbers, the show is predominantly viewed by men. The halftime show is geared toward men. The advertisers are geared toward men.

COLMES: Right.

MARSHAL: And the bottom line here is that the nipple incident, the only reason it's so shocking is more so because men have made breasts in this country so disgusting when technically, the nipple was made to feed a baby.

COLMES: Here's what we agreed about.

MARSHAL: It's a functional piece of equipment.

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