Newsweek sanitized Limbaugh oral sex quotation

In its April 25 issue, Newsweek altered a quote from nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh to remove the term "blow job," which he had used during a segment of a recent radio broadcast.

As the Democracy Cell Project has noted, Newsweek cropped the Limbaugh quote in the magazine's "Perspectives" column. The quote as it appeared in Newsweek:

"What the hell is that, Al? What the hell is the point of view of young people? They're out there getting oral sex all day long, that's what they're talking about." Rush Limbaugh, on Al Gore's new TV network, which aims to reach young viewers

The full quote from Limbaugh's April 12 broadcast:

LIMBAUGH: What the hell is that, Al? What the hell is the point of view of young people? Blow jobs, that's what they're doing out there. They're out there getting oral sex all day long, that's what they're talking about.

[...]

Al made sure that's become the number-one sport in high school today. So, I guess you're going to have a BJ network out there, Al, is that what you're going to do? You're going to call your network the oral sex channel out there, start competing with MTV?

In at least three cases (here, here, and here) in recent years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined radio broadcasters for airing explicit discussions of oral sex. All three cases were ultimately part of a $1.7 million settlement reached in June 2004 between parent company Clear Channel Communications and the FCC.

—J.W.