Rock Band’s Swear Word Out on ‘SNL’

.c The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) – NBC censors caught the five planned expletives in rock
band System of a Down’s “Saturday Night Live” performance – but a
sixth, unscripted swear word slipped through.

Toward the end of the band’s performance of “BYOB” on Saturday, the
camera caught guitarist Daron Malakian screaming out an expletive.

NBC said it had asked the band to remove the swear words in their
lyrics, but the band refused. Network censors eliminated the audio
when the expected expletives were said. The unscripted swear word,
heard on the live East Coast telecast, was edited out for other
broadcasts, NBC said.

NBC has had trouble with late-night rock ‘n’ roll previously: Motley
Crue’s Vince Neil once used an expletive during a New Year’s Eve
telecast and U2 lead singer Bono used one during last year’s Golden
Globe Awards, which were broadcast live.

A spokeswoman for System of a Down did not immediately return a phone
call seeking comment Monday.

05/09/05 18:25 EDT