FCC drops fine over Eminem song

By The Associated Press

01.09.02

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Federal Communications Commission has dropped a $7,000 fine imposed on a radio station after it aired an edited song by rapper Eminem.

In a decision released yesterday, the FCC said it reconsidered the lyrics and decided the edited version did not violate its rules by being "patently offensive."

KKMG-FM was fined in July for airing the edited version of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." Regulators said at the time that the version still included some expletives and references to violence and graphic sex.

The fine rattled radio station owners across the country because the edited version of the song was broadcast nationwide during the spring and summer of 2000.

The FCC said it took the action because a listener complained.

The listener, Liz Pipes, told KVOR-FM in Colorado Springs she objected to rap songs where expletives are muted or masked but the meaning was still clear.

KKMG is owned by Citadel Communications in Las Vegas.

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