Over one hundred people complained to the FCC about media coverage of President Donald Trump allegedly referring to African countries as “shitholes.”
During a January meeting with lawmakers, Trump allegedly asked about immigrants from African countries, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” (RELATED: Report: Trump Upset That ‘People From S***hole’ Countries’ Immigrate To America)
The ensuing media coverage led anchors and pundits to repeat the curse word over and over again with no regard for offended viewers.
Politico reviewed documents from the Federal Communications Commission and found that at least 162 people filed indecency complaints. The complaints were primarily made against CNN, who does not fall under the FCC’s indecency rules because it is a cable network.
CNN was mentioned 249 times in the 162 cases of complaints.
Some of the offended viewers referred to CNN as “fake news” in their complaints and suggested the network was repeating the word in order to undermine the credibility of President Trump.
“They intentionally broadcast the word over 30 times to paint the President as a bigoted racist,” one person said. “CNN is out of control and is attempting to completely undermine the President of the United States.”
“My 9 year old daughter keeps hearing and seeing the word Shithole all over CNN,” one parent wrote to the FCC, noting that many public televisions play the news network. “CNN needs an R rating or NC-17 rating displaying and saying this type of vulgarity.”
Others argued that although Trump allegedly said the word in a private meeting, he did not say it on television “while kids were watching.”
Complaints also mentioned NBC News, NPR and MSNBC.