About a year ago, I wrote about the Dean Blundell Show violating Clause 9(b) (Radio Broadcasting) of the CAB Code of Ethics. That was nothing compared to what happened today. The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has concluded that Dean Blundell violated Clause 8 (Exploitation) of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Equitable Portrayal Code which prohibits the sexualization of children in broadcasting.
It all started with Dean Blundell tweets about Justin Bieber. Bieber fans objected, and Dean let them have it with tweets like "Save your energy for puberty or to fend off your dad tonight while you’re sleepin’” and "He’ll be chuggin’ before he’s 18 if he likes that music."
The CBSC has found no justification for allegedly humorous references to children in sexual contexts, including those of the nature of sexual innuendo, double-entendres and inexplicit sexual comments that would not be problematic if the references were to adults. The Panel concludes that the pre-pubescent reference, “Save your energy for puberty or to fend off your dad tonight while you’re sleepin’” was gratuitous, unnecessary and a clear violation of Clause 8 of the Equitable Portrayal Code. The Panel also considers that the predictions that Josh, the youthful tweeter (they estimated his age as 12ish), will be “chugging” by the time he turns 18, are similar. The Panel considers that these comments were just as gratuitous and unnecessary and were, consequently, equally a violation of Clause 8 of the Equitable Portrayal Code.
It wasn't the tweets that got Dean in trouble with the CBSC, it was talking about the tweets on Edge 102. "Save your energy for puberty or to fend off your dad tonight while you’re sleepin’” and "He’ll be chuggin’ before he’s 18 if he likes that music." crossed the line.
What do you guys think about this ruling? Did Dean sexualize children on Edge 102?
