Comment

Onion: Nation's Wealthy Cruelly Deprived of True Meaning of Christmas

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lawhawk12/19/2013 7:47:26 am PST

You are entitled to your own views. You may even be able to get yourself on some tv reality show for whatever reason that producers think that you’ve got something that will draw viewers and more importantly, advertising dollars.

But if your personal views are going to cause problems for the producers, television network, or advertisers because you said something that was homophobic, racist, or otherwise not inclusive, those contracts can be thrown out, modified, etc. You can be fired, suspended, or see penalties imposed. [ed added]

This isn’t the government taking action, but private companies protecting their interests - including the interest to not be smeared with the homophobic rants of one of the stars of their shows they air.

This guy is free to say whatever he wants. He doesn’t have the right to a television show.

And I have the right to not watch whatever it is that his show peddles.

Reality show contracts are all-encompassing, and have provisions that allow for the “stars” to be fired. This is from a Real World Contract, but expect some of the same types of terms to be involved for shows like Duck Dynasty or Honey Boo Boo or any others that come to mind.

For instance, Page 3 gives the producers the unilateral right to terminate participants in the Real Word at their sole discretion. And that can be for any reason.