MARTIN SCORSESE - SCORSESE UPSET WITH FCC CRITICISM

Movie mogul MARTIN SCORSESE has fired back at America's strict Federal Communication Commission officials after his acclaimed blues music documentary became the target of an obscenities attack. FCC bosses have criticised TV mini-series THE BLUES for profanity they felt was unnecessary, prompting an angry Scorsese to fire back as part of a collective backlash against the censors. In a letter, the GOODFELLAS director fumes, "The language of the film was an essential element of the story... The language of blues musicians often was filled with expletives that shocked and challenged America's white-dominated society of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s." Scorsese's attack comes as TV executives at US network CBS accuse the FCC officials of levying unnecessary records fines for an episode of crime drama WITHOUT A TRACE, which featured scenes depicting a teen sex party.