# Oscar 5 second delay **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095 "2004-02-19T23:36:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/21 "2004-02-21T07:16:46Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > _I won’t mind the delay, as long as they use it to bleep out any political commentary from any winner._ > I’m in complete agreeance with you. Like fascism much? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/22 "2004-02-21T08:19:21Z")
Hmm, let’s see. The greatest stifling of free speech today occurs in communist North Korea and communist China. So . . . “fascist” means communist? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/23 "2004-02-21T12:38:50Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > God I hate Billy Crystal hosting the Oscars. Bring back Steve Martin! He’s funny, quick and classy. He seemed very uncomfortable and out of sync to me. If we’re wishing here, I’d wish for Johnny Carson to come back. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/24 "2004-02-21T13:11:40Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > _Saturday Night Live_ has always been live, except a delay was used when known foul-mouthed comedians Richard Pryor, Andrew Dice Clay, and Martin Lawrence hosted. Are we absolutely sure of this? I don’t have an online cite, but when I took the NBC Studios tour and we stopped by to see the SNL studio the tour guide told us that there was always a brief delay so they could “bleep” and profanity that might occur. She told the story of how Richard Pryor was outraged by this. He had been booked to do a Live show and he insisted that it indeed be broadcast Live. They “solved” this problem by setting the main show clock ahead by 5 seconds so that as Richard Pryor watched the clock he believed that they were starting on time when in fact they were starting 5 seconds early (to allow for the broadcast delay). Can anyone confirm or deny this? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/25 "2004-02-21T13:16:07Z")
Talk radio has _always_ had a 5-7 second delay. You never know what crackjobs are going to call in. :shrug: I don’t have a problem with it. Now, if it was the _FCC_ demanding the delay… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/26 "2004-02-21T17:41:36Z")
**bienville’s** version is taken directly from the pages of [Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688050999/qid=1077384683/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-3919517-4696956?v=glance&s=books), a 1986 book. > [@](#): > > Lorne, who had waged a major fight to get Pryor approved as a host in the first place, argued through most of the week with executives who wanted a five-second delay used so that any ad-libbed obscenities could be bleeped. Finally one of the censors came to Lorne and said he could use the delay or not as he chose, but he would suffer the consequences if Pryor misbehaved. Lorne, going against all his own arguments, decided to play it safe and agreed to the delay. He though Pryor could be trusted, but he wasn’t willing to bet the show’s future on it. He suspected that if Pryor learned of the delay he’d probably walk out, so it was arranged in the strictest secrecy. All the clocks in the studio were set back five seconds, and the few who were aware of the change were told not to breath a word out loud for fear Pryor or one of his people would discover it. By the time of the series of interviews conducted for 2002’s [Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316781460/ref=pd_sim_books_2/102-3919517-4696956?v=glance&s=books) everybody’s memories had conveniently suppressed any such unpleasantness. Director Dave Wilson said: > [@](#): > > You know what? I don’t think we ever went on a “delay.” They tried to go on a delay the first time we had Richard Pryor on. And the Standards people couldn’t make up their minds fast enough so that something got erased or bleeped. It was like a ten-second delay, and by the time they decided whether what he said was okay or not, it had gone past. I find the earlier version more believable, because I can visualize the whole scenario. But take all show business stories with a grain of salt. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/27 "2004-02-21T17:47:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Phase42 > I won’t mind the delay, as long as they use it to bleep out any political commentary from any winner. > I’m in complete agreeance with you. > > Like fascism much? The only part of that quote that belongs to me is the “I’m in complete agreeance with you.” It was a joke, dude. I guess you missed Fred Durst at the Grammys a couple years ago when he invented the word “agreeance” in a political anti-war statement. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/28 "2004-02-21T20:13:01Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > The only part of that quote that belongs to me is the “I’m in complete agreeance with you.” It was a joke, dude. You’re right, I messed up the coding. I meant to separate them to original quote and your answer. I apologise. I’m still freaked out by people who would censor political speech, even at the Oscars. That’s just so un-American and scary. ---
**Author:** ![honkyhonky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/34f0e0/32.png) [@honkyhonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/honkyhonky)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/29 "2004-02-24T16:43:22Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > You’re right, I messed up the coding. I meant to separate them to original quote and your answer. I apologise. > > I’m still freaked out by people who would censor political speech, even at the Oscars. That’s just so un-American and scary. Agreed. censorship is scary. I just want to know that the “editors” will not go too far with the editing. If Ian McKellen brings his boyfriend, and one lands a smoocher on the other when ROTK is annonced winner, with that be sensored too?? ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/30 "2004-02-24T18:59:13Z")
Hey, if little kids can sit through 3+ hours of the Oscars, then they win the right to see a tit. If I was on there, I’d say stuff that would confuse the censors, like “Fudpucker”, or “Holy Shiite”, or “BeeeYaaaatch”, etc. I guess that’s why I didn’t get an invite. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/31 "2004-02-24T20:38:01Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Hmm, let’s see. The greatest stifling of free speech today occurs in communist North Korea and communist China. So . . . “fascist” means communist? Well … Wilhelm Reich used to refer to communism as “Red Fascism.” Of course, he also thought he’d created life from lifelessness, discovered an all-pervasive form of energy, and was being hounded by evil flying saucers; so make of that what you will. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/32 "2004-02-24T20:57:32Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I agree, but the difference is that if someone says something I don’t like I just roll my eyes and deal. You said you’d support a delay if they bleeped out political speech. That’s scary. Dudes, from a pure entertainment standpoint, the random acts of impropriety and random political cries are what make the fargin show somewhat tolerable. Let’s face it; the Oscars (and most awards ceremonies) are boring as all hell (I’d like to thank Jim the sound guy, and Mike the producer, and my cousin Bill who just recently got over an ingrown toenail… we’re pulling for you Billy!). It’s when they make fools of themselves that I get any enjoyment out of the thing whatsoever. Please, please, don’t take that away from us 🙂 In fact, I think they should encourage political speeches… no, make them MANDATORY! God, I’d watch that show beginning to end (next up, Best Actor in a comedic role gives his thoughts on the electoral college… “College sucks! Except for the babes, man! And oh, I almost forgot… PEACE OUT TO THE FLYBOYS from Catatonia and watch out for the BOOGIE MAN!! And FREE TIBET!!! MAO, eat my shorts! Or at least eat Shrub’s Shorts!!! HAHAHAHAHA, I love ya guys!”). Ahem. But yeah, let the blasted actors embarass themselves however they like. They deserve that much for winning an award, and we deserve it for sinking 3 hours of our life into watching them 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095/33 "2004-02-24T22:05:49Z")
As for the delay on SNL, some things have made it on the air that they didn’t want. Charles Rocket dropped the f-bomb and got fired. I watched Norm Macdonald flub a line and say “fuc…” I say there is no delay, at least on the East Coast. I seem to remember them censoring some things for the West Coast broadcast. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-5-second-delay/230095.md?page=1)