The Biggest Censor Fails in TV History: F-Bombs, Nipplegate, the Oscars Streaker & More

Fifteen years ago, on June 30, 2011, MSNBC suspended political analyst Mark Halperin for a Morning Joe segment in which Halperin referred to then-President Barack Obama as “kind of a d***.”

Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough urged Halperin to share his thoughts, and once Halperin did, Scarborough told his control room to “delay that,” referring to the standard practice of using a seven-second broadcasting delay to censor offensive live TV moments, per The New York Times. But the show’s executive producer failed to bleep the word, the anchor told viewers.

That wasn’t the first or worst time that TV censors dropped the ball. Here are even more salacious and outrageous moments that went uncensored, our picks for the biggest censor fails in television history. (Regarding the corresponding clips, well… viewer discretion is advised.)

1974: Academy Awards streaker exposes his own statuette

A man caused quite a scene — and a nearly minute-long interruption — at the 46th Academy Awards, broadcast on NBC, when he streaked nude across the stage behind presenter David Niven. That man was later identified as Robert Opel, an employee of the Los Angeles school system, per The New Yorker. “It just occurred to me that it might be an educative thing to do,” Opel explained at the time. “You know, people shouldn’t be ashamed of being nude in public. Besides, it’s a hell of a way to launch a career.”

1980: Paul Shaffer says another word instead of “flogging”

Paul Shaffer has the honor of being the first person to drop an F-bomb on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, according to Entertainment Weekly. He did so in a 1980 medieval-themed sketch that subbed “flogging” for a more offensive alternative. “It went really well in the dress rehearsal,” Shaffer later wrote in his memoir. “So well that I added extra ‘floggings’ until there was finally just a total slip. I went white. When it was over, Lorne Michaels came up and said, ‘You broke down the last barrier.’”

2002: Cher tells off her critics in profane style

Cher cursed while accepting an honor during Fox’s broadcast of the 2002 Billboard Music Awards, per the Los Angeles Times, saying, “I’ve also had critics for the last 40 years saying I was on my way out every year. Right. So f*** ’em.” That F-bomb was one of the censor fails that made it to the Supreme Court docket in Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, per The New York Times. Then-Justice Antonin Scalia said the singer “metaphorically suggested a sexual act as a means of expressing hostility to her critics.”

2003: Nicole Richie makes a s***ty comment

A year later, at the same awards show and on the same channel, Nicole Richie referenced her time on the reality show The Simple Life, saying, “Have you ever tried to get cow s*** out of a Prada purse? It’s not so f***ing simple.’” The Supreme Court defended Fox against potential fines in the cases of Cher’s and Richie’s profanity, with then-Justice Anthony Kennedy saying the FCC “failed to give Fox … fair notice prior to the broadcasts in question that fleeting expletives … could be found actionably indecent.”

2003: Bono has an “f***ing brilliant” Golden Globes moment

In another awards show moment, U2’s frontman nearly got NBC in trouble at the 2003 Golden Globes when he uttered the phrase “f***ing brilliant.” But the network avoided a fine because the FCC was in the middle of revising its rules on indecency, according to Billboard. “You can always cause a stir with an expletive, and it’s not something that I’m conscious of,” Bono told Reuters in 2004. “If you use them in your everyday speech, sometimes they will come out. I don’t mean to offend anyone.”

2003: Nipplegate stuns Super Bowl viewers

As Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson performed as part of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show in 2004, he ripped off part of her top and accidentally exposed her breast in a moment dubbed “Nipplegate.” Jackson addressed the controversy in her self-titled 2022 docuseries, saying it had been “blown way out of proportion,” per CNN. She added, “Of course, it was an accident. That should not have happened, but everyone is looking for someone to blame, and that’s got to stop.”

2008: Survivor castaway’s penis gets voted out of his boxers

In the 2008 premiere of Survivor: Gabon, castaway Marcus Lehman suffered a wardrobe malfunction when his CBS viewers saw his un-pixelated penis emerge from his boxers during a challenge. A network statement arguably exacerbated the situation by calling the NSFW moment “virtually undetectable when viewed in real time.” Lehman later told Reality Blurred, “Dude, even my penis was surprised to see itself on TV. I can Google my penis. I’ve reached new heights of awkwardness in my life.”

2012: Fox News fails to cut away from a man’s death by suicide

In 2012, then-Fox News anchor Shepard Smith was broadcasting a live police chase involving JoDon Romero when the man leapt from his vehicle and shot himself in the head, dying by suicide. Though Smith attempted to tell producers to “get off” the live feed before it happened, and there was a time delay, it still aired live for audiences to see. Smith then said after a commercial break, “That didn’t belong on TV. We took every precaution we knew how to take to keep that from being on TV. And I personally apologize to you that that happened…that won’t happen again on my watch.” The family of the victim sued Fox News, claiming his children witnessed the footage and suffered post-traumatic stress as a result of it. The claim was later dismissed on First Amendment grounds in court.

2013: David Ortiz offers Bostonians a rallying cry

A day after police captured Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev, then-Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz gave a pep talk to the crowd at Fenway Park, saying, “This is our f***ing city. And nobody’s going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.” Ortiz’s F-word utterance made national television via the MLB Network, but then-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski didn’t quibble, as CNN reported. “David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today’s Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston,” Genachowski said via the FCC’s Twitter account.

2026: Alysa Liu drops a medal-worthy curse

After acing her free skate routine during the 2026 Winter Olympics figure-skating finals, Team USA member Alysa Liu glided up to cameras and shouted in glee, “That’s what I’m f***ing talking about!” The profanity aired nationwide on NBC to the delight of viewers. “Alysa Liu throwing down that routine and then dropping a ‘That’s what I’m f***ing talking about’ on the NBC hot mic is the stuff of legends,” said one social media user.

remembering when alysa liu dropped the f bomb on live global tv pic.twitter.com/3LMhE8wfPJ

— ruby¹ (@ALYSAL1U) February 26, 2026