Once in a great while, a hero comes along and revolutionizes television. Edward R. Murrow revolutionized television news (and then Ted Turner re-revolutionized it). Norman Lear revolutionized sitcom television with All in the Family. Jon Stewart revolutionized the fake news industry. David Chase revolutionized television drama with The Sopranos. NYPD Blue broke through the backside male nudity glass ceiling. Mindy Kaling brought frank discussions of anal sex to network television with The Mindy Project.
And now, Inside Amy Schumer has come along and knocked down yet another barrier: Thanks to the tireless efforts of her staff, specifically American hero and Amy Schumer executive producer Dan Powell, the word “p*ssy” can be said on Comedy Central without so much as a bleep (and yes, we’re still starring it out here, because we want to avoid being blocked at your work, thank you very much).
Here’s the story, according to the cast and crew’s explanation at the weekend’s Paley Center Q&A, via Vulture:
Fellow executive producer Dan Powell took up the important cause during season two. “Dan decided that it wasn’t fair that they bleep the word ‘p*ssy,'” said Amy Schumer. “Because you are allowed to say the word ‘dick’ on Comedy Central,” added [head writer and executive producer Jessi] Klein. At the time, Comedy Central’s standards arm would okay certain anatomical references like “dick” if they weren’t used in reference to sex, but Powell cried gender inequality.
Powell wrote a letter to the network decrying the double standard, and a conference call soon followed. “That was Dan’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” said Schumer during the panel. The network assented, and now thanks to Schumer and her staff, p*ssy will no longer be censored.
“It was a great moment in U.S. history,” said exec producer Jessi Klein.
Source: Vulture
