THURSDAY - COURT: TV WRITERS CAN USE PROFANITY -- EXCEPT IN SCRIPTS

Courts may have struck down the use of profanity on primetime TV, but writers were assured of their rights to use such language in the workplace when the California Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out a sexual harassment suit filed against Warner Bros. TV and the writers of Friends. In its opinion, the court said, "The record discloses that most of the sexually coarse and vulgar language at issue did not involve and was not aimed at plaintiff or other women in the workplace." It also noted that plaintiff Amaani Lyle had been warned that the writers would use such language. She reportedly had been fired for transcribing their words too slowly.

21/04/2006