Partners November 04, 2009
'Gossip Girl' Slammed for Threesome
The Parents Television Council is taking aim at Hollywood's favorite Upper East Siders.
The Council has asked the CW Network to pull an upcoming episode of "Gossip Girl," which will feature a steamy threesome with the show's main characters.
Check out adorable photos of real-life couple Ed Westwick and Jessica Szohr
"To include a storyline like this on a program that is expressly targeted to impressionable teenagers is reckless and irresponsible," PTC President Tim Winter says in a statement. "We are asking each CW Network affiliate to use their common sense and preempt this episode."
Ads teasing the "Gossip Girl" threesome began airing this week on the CW.
"CW has been defending graphic content on 'Gossip Girl' by asserting that they don't target teenagers," Winter continues. "Such a claim doesn't even pass the 'laugh test.' The network's own promotions talk about the program as a 'parent's worst nightmare.' How many 30-year olds care what their parents think? Zero. Only a teenager would be responsive to a parental 'forbidden fruit' marketing ploy like that, and CW knows it."
Winter warns that the "PTC will monitor this episode very closely" and the group "will not hesitate to contact local and national advertisers; and if this program violates broadcast decency law, rest assured that our members will contact the Federal Communications Commission."
This isn't the first time the PTC has been up in arms over the show. In 2008, they took issue with an ad campaign that featured a shirtless Chace Crawford in bed with an older woman, and Ed Westwick feeding a cherry suggestively to Leighton Meester.
