Another week, another t-shirt controversy.

As reported Wednesday by the arbiters of cool over at Pitchfork, the L.A.-based, lo-fi punk rock sensations No Age were entangled in an unseemly dispute with the powers-that-be at CBS earlier this week.

The band, glowingly profiled here in this very blog just days ago, was in NYC to tape a scheduled appearance on The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson. Everything seemed good, until word filtered down at the last moment from corporate execs that guitarist and vocalist Randy Randall would not be allowed on-camera with his pro-Obama tee (pictured below).

As justification, CBS cited an obscure FCC policy known as the Fairness Doctrine, which requires networks to give equal airtime to opposing candidates during an election cycle. According to the Pitchfork post and an e-mail the band sent to media outlets in wake of the episode, Randall (and his partner in crime, drummer Dean Spunt) were basically told that they would either remove the offending garment in question, or not perform.

The band apparently gave some consideration to ditching, but ultimately thought better of it (the exposure being what it is) and arrived at a clever compromise: Randall turned the shirt inside out and using a thick, black sharpie, affixed “Free Health Care” to the front. It’s unlikely that this incident tops other infamous late night flare-ups, like say The Doors vs Ed Sullivan, but the twosome saved face in a tight spot with a nifty bit of damage control and subsequently took to the offensive after the taping. That old saying about life, lemons and lemonade seems particularly pertinent right here…

For what it’s worth, Ferguson tried to explain away the controversy later that day on his show before segueing into video of the almost-aborted No Age performance. As you’ll see below, he makes it quite clear that while he had nothing to do with any of his employer’s Orwellian scheming, he is not above milking them for laughs.

Readers seeking additional details about these events should turn to a piece that I found yesterday on the L.A. Times website. Amidst the fallout, the angry accusations and the blanket denials, one certainly gleans the impression that the band will be leery of making televised appearances in the future.

Feedback? Convey it here: travis@founditemclothing.com

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 12:46 pm by Macho Slut and is filed under Celebs (and the T-Shirts That Love Them), ConTEEversy, Current Events, Douchebaggery, Music, T-Shirts We Like, T-Shirts in the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.