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Paramount Global (previously ViacomCBS)[1] is an American multinational entertainment conglomerate that was the subject of criticisms and controversies about its products and services.Criticism of Paramount Global has included theformer Viacom Inc.'s announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies. The company was not only dealing with a stagnating stock price, but also the rivalry betweenLeslie Moonves andTom Freston, longtime heads ofMTV Networks. In addition, the company was facing issues afterMTV was banned from producing any moreSuper Bowl halftime shows after theSuper Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy in 2004.
In February 2007, Viacom sent upwards of 100,000DMCA takedown notices to the video-sharing site YouTube. Of the 100,000 notices, approximately 60–70 non-infringing videos were removed under the auspices of copyright infringement.[2]
On March 13, 2007, Viacom filed a US$1 billion legal claim (Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube, Inc.) againstGoogle and YouTube alleging massivecopyright infringement, alleging that users frequently uploaded copyrighted material to YouTube — enough to cause a hit in revenue for Viacom and a gain in advertisement revenue for YouTube.[3]
The complaint contended that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of Viacom's programming were made available on YouTube and that these clips had collectively been viewed more than 1.5 billion times.
In July 2008, the case generated controversy when District JudgeLouis Stanton ruled that YouTube was required to hand over data detailing the viewing habits of every user who had ever watched videos on the site.[4]
Judge Stanton rejected Viacom's request for YouTube to hand over thesource code of itssearch engine system, saying that the code was atrade secret.[5]
Google and Viacom later agreed to allow Google to anonymize all the data before handing it over to Viacom.[6]
On June 23, 2010, Judge Stanton ruled in Google's favor in a motion for summary judgment, holding that Google was protected by provisions of theDigital Millennium Copyright Act, notwithstanding evidence of intentional copyright infringement. Viacom announced its intention to appeal the ruling.[7]
Throughout the years,CBS News has been accused by conservative activists have of perpetuating aliberal bias in its news coverage. TheMedia Research Center has been especially critical about the coverage of liberal topics by CBS.
Public Enemy rapperChuck D,[8] journalistGeorge Curry,[9] writerKeith Boykin,[10] comic book creatorChristopher Priest,[11] filmmakerSpike Lee,[12]Syracuse University professor of financeBoyce Watkins[13] and cartoonistAaron McGruder (who, in addition to numerous critical references throughout his series,The Boondocks, madea particular episode criticizing the channel), all have protested BET's programming and actions. As a result, BET heavily censors suggestive content from the videos that it airs, often with entire verses and scenes removed from certain rap videos.[14][15] Furthermore, scholars within the black community maintain that BET perpetuates and justifies racism by affecting the interpersonal beliefs others may generalize out black people, and also by affecting the psyche of its young viewers through its bombardment of negative images of black people.[16]
The New York Times reported that the Reverend Delman L. Coates and his organization Enough is Enough led protests every weekend outside the residences of BET executives against what they claim are negative stereotypes of black people perpetuated by BET music videos.[14] Enough is Enough backed an April 2008 report titledThe Rap on Rap by theParents Television Council that claimed that BET rap programming, which they believed contained gratuitous sexual, violent, and profane content, was targeting children and teens.[17] BET announced in March 2010 that Gordon would return to the network to host "a variety of news programs and specials."[18]
In a 2010 interview, BET co-founderSheila Johnson explained she herself is "ashamed" of what the network has become. "I don't watch it. I suggest to my kids that they don't watch it," she said. "When we started BET, it was going to be theEbony magazine on television. We had public affairs programming. We had news... I had a show calledTeen Summit, we had a large variety of programming, but the problem is that then the video revolution started up... And then something started happening, and I didn't like it at all. And I remember during those days we would sit up and watch these videos and decide which ones were going on and which ones were not. We got a lot of backlash from recording artists... and we had to start showing them. I didn't like the way women were being portrayed in these videos."[19]
VH1 endured criticism for the short-livedMusic Behind Bars, which mainly focuses on musicians in custody. Critics have claimed prisoners, mainly those convicted of murder, should not be entitled to any exposure, especially nationally.[20]
MTV Networks channels have been cited as suffering fromchannel drift. Music Television (asMTV was originally known) was originally a channel devoted to popular music videos upon its launch in 1981, but began adding entertainment and reality programs geared toward a young adult audience in the 1990s, beginning a progression toward its current focus of reality and scripted programming targeted primarily at teenagers and young adults. (The music videos transitioned toMTV2, then to MTV Hits, the current-dayNickMusic.) Video Hits One likewise began as an outlet foradult contemporary music before transitioning to an urban pop culture channel asVH1;Country Music Television drifted to southern culture and general rerun programming as CMT; andThe Nashville Network, perhaps the most dramatic, drifted to a male-heavy program lineup now known asSpike.
The channel has been a target of criticism by diverse groups about programming choices, social issues,political correctness, sensitivity, censorship, and a perceived negativesocial influence on young people.[21] Portions of the content of MTV's programs and productions have come under controversy in the general news media and amongsocial groups that have taken offense.
During MTV's first few years on the air, very fewblack artists were included in rotation on the channel. Those who were in MTV's rotation includedEddy Grant,Tina Turner,Donna Summer,Musical Youth,Herbie Hancock,Grace Jones, andPrince. The very first non-white act played on MTV in the U.S. was UK bandThe Specials, which featured an integrated line-up of white and black musicians and vocalists. The Specials' video "Rat Race" was played as the 58th video on the station's first day of broadcasting.[22]
MTV rejected other black artists' videos, such asRick James' "Super Freak", because they did not fit the channel's carefully selected AOR format at the time. The exclusion enraged James; he publicly advocated the addition of more black artists' videos on the channel. Rock legendDavid Bowie also questioned MTV's lack of black artists during an on-air interview with VJMark Goodman in 1983.[23] MTV's original head of talent and acquisition, Carolyn B. Baker, who was black, had questioned why the definition of music had to be so narrow, as had a few others outside the network. "The party line at MTV was that we weren't playing black music because of the 'research'," said Baker years later. "But the research was based on ignorance... we were young, we were cutting edge. We didn't have to be on the cutting edge of racism." Nevertheless, it was Baker who had personally rejectedRick James' video forSuper Freak "because there were half-naked women in it, and it was a piece of c--p. As a black woman, I did not want that representing my people as the first black video on MTV."[24]
The network's director of music programming Buzz Brindle told an interviewer in 2006, "MTV was originally designed to be a rock music channel. It was difficult for MTV to find African American artists whose music fit the channel's format that leaned toward rock at the outset." Writers Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum noted that the channel "aired videos by plenty of white artists who didn't play rock." Andrew Goodwin later wrote, "[MTV] denied racism, on the grounds that it merely followed the rules of the rock business (which were, nonetheless, the consequence of a long history of racism)."[25] MTV senior executive vice presidentLes Garland complained decades later, "The worst thing was that "racism" b------t... there were hardly any videos being made by black artists. Record companies weren't funding them.They never got charged with racism."
Before 1983,Michael Jackson also struggled to receive airtime on MTV.[26] To resolve the struggle and finally "break the color barrier", the president ofCBS Records at the time,Walter Yetnikoff, denounced MTV in a strong, profane statement, threatening to take away MTV's ability to play any of the record label's music videos.[26][27] However,Les Garland, then acquisitions head, said he decided to air Jackson's "Billie Jean" video without pressure from CBS.[23] This was contradicted by CBS head of Business Affairs David Benjamin in Vanity Fair.[28]
According toThe Austin Chronicle, Jackson's video for the song "Billie Jean" was "the video that broke the color barrier, even though the channel itself was responsible for erecting that barrier in the first place."[29] But change was not immediate. "Billie Jean" was not added to MTV's "medium rotation" playlist (two to three airings per day) until after it had already reached #1 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart. A month later, it was bumped up into "heavy rotation", one week before the MTV debut of Jackson's "Beat It" video. Both videos were played several times a day for the next two months; by early summer, the channel had ceased playing both songs. But the impact was permanent. When Jackson's elaborate video for "Thriller" was released late in the year, which raised the ambition bar for what a video could be, the network's support for it was total; subsequently more pop and R & B videos were played on MTV.[30]
Eventually, videos from the emerging genre ofrap andhip hop would also begin to enter rotation on MTV. A majority of the rap artists appearing on MTV in the mid-1980s, such asRun-DMC,The Fat Boys,Whodini,L.L. Cool J and theBeastie Boys, were from theEast Coast.
Video directorDon Letts has a different view of the timeline, saying, "People often say "Billie Jean" was the first black music video on MTV. "Pass the Dutchie" was first. Because they were little and spoke in funny British accents,Musical Youth were deemed as non-threatening, and therefore non-black."
In 1983,Rolling Stone'sSteven Levy wrote, "MTV's greatest achievement has been to coax rock & roll into the video arena where you can't distinguish between entertainment and the sales pitch."[31] TheDead Kennedys released a song in 1985 titled "MTV, Get Off The Air".
MTV has edited a number of music videos to remove references to drugs,[32]sex, violence,weapons, racism,homophobia, or advertising.[33] Many music videos aired on the channel were censored, moved to late-night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel.
In the 1980s, parent-media watchdog groups such as theParents Music Resource Center criticized MTV over certain music videos that were claimed to have explicit imagery ofsatanism. MTV developed a strict policy on refusal to air videos that may depictdevil worship oranti-religious themes.[34] This policy led MTV to ban music videos such as "Jesus Christ Pose" bySoundgarden in 1991[35] and "Megalomaniac" byIncubus in 2004.
Although MTV reached its 30th year of broadcasting in 2011, the channel itself passed over this milestone in favor of its current programming schedule. The channel instead aired its 30th anniversary celebrations on its sister networksMTV2 andVH1 Classic. Nathaniel Brown, senior vice president of communications for MTV, confirmed that there were no plans for an on-air MTV celebration similar to the channel's 20th anniversary. Brown explained, "MTV as a brand doesn't age with our viewers. We are really focused on our current viewers, and our feeling was that our anniversary wasn't something that would be meaningful to them, many of whom weren't even alive in 1981."[36]
Despite targeted efforts to play certain types of music videos in limited rotation, MTV greatly reduced its overall rotation of music videos by the mid-2000s.[37] While music videos were featured on MTV up to eight hours per day in 2000, the year 2008 saw an average of just three hours of music videos per day on MTV. The rise of the Internet as a convenient outlet for the promotion and viewing of music videos signaled this reduction.[38]
As the decade progressed, MTV continued to play some music videos instead of relegating them exclusively to itssister channels, but around this time, the channel began to air music videos only in the early morning hours or in a condensed form onTotal Request Live. As a result of these programming changes,Justin Timberlake challenged MTV to "play more damn videos!" while giving an acceptance speech at the2007 Video Music Awards.[39]
Despite the challenge from Timberlake, MTV continued to decrease its total rotation time for music videos in 2007, and the channel eliminated its long-running special tags for music videos such as "Buzzworthy" (for under-represented artists), "Breakthrough" (for visually stunning videos), and "Spankin' New" (for brand new videos). Additionally, the historicKabel typeface, which MTV displayed at the beginning and end of all music videos since 1981, was phased out in favor of larger text and less information about the video's record label and director. The classic font can still be seen in "prechyroned" versions of old videos on sister networkVH1 Classic, which had their title information recorded onto the same tape as the video itself.
Prior to its finale in 2008, MTV's main source of music videos wasTotal Request Live, airing four times per week, featuring short clips of music videos along with VJs and guests. MTV was experimenting at the time with new ideas for music programs to replace the purpose ofTRL but with a new format.[40]
In the summer of 2008, MTV premiered new music video programming blocks calledFNMTV and a weekly special event calledFNMTV Premieres, hosted from Los Angeles byPete Wentz of the bandFall Out Boy, which was designed to premiere new music videos and have viewers provide instantaneous feedback.[41]
TheFNMTV Premieres event ended before the2008 Video Music Awards in September. With the exception of a holiday themed episode in December 2008 and an unrelatedSpring Break special in March 2009 with the same title,FNMTV Premieres never returned to the channel's regular program schedule, leaving MTV without any music video programs hosted by VJs for the first time in its history.
Shortly afterMichael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, the channel aired several hours of Jackson's music videos, accompanied by live news specials featuring reactions from MTV personalities and other celebrities.[42] The temporary shift in MTV's programming culminated the following week with the channel's live coverage of Jackson's memorial service.[43] MTV aired similar one-hour live specials with music videos and news updates following the death ofWhitney Houston on February 11, 2012, and the death ofAdam Yauch of theBeastie Boys on May 4, 2012.[44][45]
In 2007, MTV aired the reality showA Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, chronicling MySpace sensationTila Tequila's journey to find a companion. Her bisexuality played into the series – both male and female contestants were vying for love – and was the subject of criticism.[46] It was "...the #2 show..." airing on MTV at that time, behindThe Hills.[47] A spin-off series fromA Shot at Love, titledThat's Amoré!, followed a similar pursuit from previousA Shot at Love contestant Domenico Nesci.
In late 2009, MTV shifted its focus back toReal World-style reality programming with the premiere ofJersey Shore, a program that brought high ratings to the channel and also caused controversy due to some of its content.[48]
With backlash towards what some consider too much superficial content on the network, a recentNew York Times article also stated the intention of MTV to shift its focus towards more socially conscious media, which the article labels "MTV for theObama era."[49] Shows in that vein includedT.I.'s Road to Redemption andFonzworth Bentley's finishing school showFrom G's to Gents.
The channel also began showing presidential campaign commercials for the first time during the2008 U.S. presidential election.[50] This has led to criticism from the right, withJonah Goldberg opening that "MTV serves as theDemocrats' main youth outreach program."[51]
Comedy Central has been a frequent target of criticism from the conservative groupParents Television Council (PTC), which accuses them ofbigotry andblasphemy.[52] PTC has used their criticisms against Comedy Central for their support of theFamily and Consumer Choice Act of 2007, which would allow U.S.cable TV subscribers to choose which channels they subscribe to,[53] and to persuade advertisers to stop advertising on the channel.[54] The channel has also received criticism from certain parents[55] for airing advertisements for "Girls Gone Wild". The channel also airs the least cut version of the popular filmNot Another Teen Movie, as well as uncut versions of films such asComing to America,Dogma andJay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
On November 5, 2007, an open letter[56] was written byVideoSift to protest publicly the blocking of Comedy Central's embedded video content for non-American viewers.
On April 21, 2010, Comedy Centralcensored theSouth Park episode "201" in response to adeath threat issued by users of aradical Muslim website over the episode's planned depiction of theIslamic prophetMuhammad, which led several newspaper columnists to condemn the network's actions as tantamount to abetting terrorism. Since then, as a result, neither "201" northe episode that preceded it have been aired.
The name change to "Spike TV" was supposed to be official on June 16, 2003.[57] However, on June 13, film directorSpike Lee won aNew York Supreme Courtinjunction preventing the name change. Lee claimed that because of his well-known popularity in Hollywood, viewers would therefore assume that he was associated with the new channel.[58] Lee stated in court papers that: "The media description of this change of name, as well as comments made to me and my wife, confirmed what was obvious—that Spike TV referred to Spike Lee."[59]
The channel had planned an official launch of its new name at a star-studded, televised party at thePlayboy Mansion in mid-June. But due to Lee's injunction, the special—titledParty With Spike—had to be heavily edited and the impact of the event was considerably muted. During the lawsuit, even the name "TNN" was significantly scaled back, as logos and voice-overs referred to the channel only as "The First Network for Men".
Spike Jones Jr., son of comic musicianSpike Jones, became a party of the lawsuit as part of Viacom's defense to protect the rights to his father's name.[60] The suit was settled on July 8, 2003, and TNN was allowed to call itself Spike TV. In announcing the settlement, Lee admitted that he did not believe that the channel intentionally tried to trade on his name.[61]
The name change became official on August 11, 2003.[62]
In September 2005, allWWE programs departed Viacom networks after a new program agreement was made withUSA Network.WWE Raw moved back to USA, whileWWE Sunday Night Heat andWWE Velocity moved to WWE.com due to neglect by MTV and Spike to promote or schedule the shows on acceptable terms to WWE. On October 1, 2005, wrestling promotionTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) began airing its weekly programTNA Impact! in the Saturday night time slot formerly occupied byWWE Velocity. In WWE's lastRaw broadcast on the channel, Viacom chose tocensor and prevent mention of the USA move in Spike's last airing ofRaw by anyone on the show, an effort which eventually proved futile when a "next week on USA" mention was not removed in time.
On October 15, 2005, Viacom acquirediFilm.com, which was initially launched in 1997. After acquiring the website for $49 million, it was eventually re-branded to Spike.com and provided hosting ofuser-uploaded videos; this failed to gain any traction and it eventually became a general network information and video portal.
YouTube was also launched in 2005, which latersuffered a class action lawsuit reported to be over $1 billion. Spike.com's managing division claims that they only host videos they approve after they are submitted.[63] YouTube Partner user Mike Mozart pointed out videos on Spike.com/iFilm that were uploaded from YouTube onto Spike.com, without permission as their descriptions arecriticizing the video itself. He also pointed out that YouTube embeds hosted on Spike.comdid not link back to YouTube, and any sort of video hyperlinking was forcibly disabled, contradicting YouTube'sTerms of Use.[64]
The channel as a whole has begun to receive negative reputations and controversies over the late-2000s to early-2020s, since they, since 2006, would frequent burn offs variousNicktoons that are not considered to have a ratings on the par of the more successful animated seriesSpongeBob SquarePants. Following the box-office success of thefirst film in 2004, various allegedly low-rated Nicktoons would often be pushed to thesister channel and be outright cancelled after the last few episodes.
Nickelodeon programs have encountered significant controversies for some time. Several episodes ofSpongeBob SquarePants have gained some with dispute or even entirely removed from the schedule. TheParents Television Council (PTC) and other sources believed that "Sailor Mouth" was an implicit attempt to promote andsatirize the use ofprofanity among children, but reports cited otherwise.[65][66] Richard Huff of theNew York Daily News criticized the report for misinterpreting the episode over its intended satire.[67] "SpongeBob's Last Stand" drew criticism from conservatives, who argued over promotingenvironmentalism through this episode.[68]
"SpongeBob, You're Fired" was infamous for dialogue referencing theSupplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps benefit).[69] In a scene from the episode,Patrick tries to show SpongeBob "the benefits of being unemployed," much to his disagreement. It eventually sparked a political debate whenMedia Matters for America andAl Sharpton onMSNBC accused both theNew York Post andFox News of using the episode.[70][71][72]
In 2021, Nickelodeon announced that to remove "Mid-Life Crustacean" from not only the network, butParamount+ and DVD sales as well.[73] It was solely due its deemed inappropriate scene revolvingpanty raiding. "Kwarantined Krab" was the second removed episode initially meant to air during 2020; but delayed until April 29, 2022, due to the plot revolving around a pandemic as an on-going real-worldCOVID-19 pandemic arrived.[74] However, these episodes it is available to purchase oniTunes andAmazon Prime.[75][76]
Rugrats was noteworthy among contemporary children's television for depicting observant, identifiable Jewish families. TheAnti-Defamation League andThe Washington Post editorial page castigated the series for its depiction of Tommy Pickles' maternal grandparents, accusing their character designs of resembling Nazi-era depictions of Jews.
Some segments ofRen and Stimpy were altered to exclude references to religion, politics, alcohol, violence, and tobacco. The episode "Powdered Toast Man" had a cross removed from thePope's hat and the credit was changed to "the man with the pointy hat". The same episode had a segment featuring the burning of theUnited States Constitution andBill of Rights that was removed, while in "Dog Show", the last name of the character George Liquor was removed, being changed to "George American". Many other episodes included someone smoking a cigar, pipe, or a cigarette.
Rocko's Modern Life is notable for its risqué humor.[77] The series contained numerous adult innuendos, such as Rocko's brief stint at an impliedsex hotline.[78] Joe Murray noted that the season one episode "Leap Frogs" received "some complaints from some parents" due to its sexual humor, leading to Nickelodeon removing the episode from air for the remainder of the show's run, although it later aired on the cable channelNicktoons and was made available on DVD and video streaming sites such asNetflix, and ultimatelyParamount+.[79]
The Angry Beavers often brought tension between Schauer and Nickelodeon, with the channel imposing seemingly arbitrary restrictions on the show's content amongst the show's younger viewers.[80][81]
Invader ZIM would frequently find itself at odds with network censorship. InThe Medium-Sized Book of ZIM Scrips Vol. 1, series writer Eric Trueheart described theZIM staff and executives' relationship as dysfunctional. Some episodes intended for certain characters (such as Keef, Iggins, and even the main characters Zim and Dib) to die horrifically, much to the disagreement of Nickelodeon, and rewrite the episodes to where they would not die. "Bloody GIR," which depicted an image of GIR covered in blood, was created when series creator Jhonen Vasquez wanted to put this drawing into an episode ofInvader Zim. Nickelodeon prohibited it, despite directors trying to sneak it across several episodes.
In 2018, Nickelodeon ended its relationship withDan Schneider after an internal investigation found that Schneider had been verbally abusive to those he worked with. Schneider had worked as a writer and producer at the network since 1995 and had created several Nickelodeon series includingThe Amanda Show,Drake & Josh,Zoey 101,iCarly, andVictorious. In 2021, former Nickelodeon producer Arthur Gradstein, who worked with Schneider for years toldThe New York Times that Schneider could be "unreasonably demanding, controlling, belittling and vindictive, with a willful disregard for boundaries or workplace appropriateness."[82]
In her2022 memoir, former child actressJenette McCurdy wrote that the cast and crew underwent emotional abuse on the set of the seriesiCarly. She also alleges that while she was underaged a male Nickelodeon producer offered her alcohol and gave her a shoulder massage without her consent.[83] McCurdy stated that Nickelodeon offered her $300,000 on the condition that she never talk about her experience working for the network.[83][84][85]
In August 2022, formerZoey 101 actressAlexa Nikolas protested outside of Nickelodeon studios inBurbank, alleging that the network had failed to provide a safe work environment for her and other child actors that she knew. Nikolas called on the network to address these allegations and to release its former employees fromnondisclosure agreements.[86][87][88]
In 2025, theSouth Park creatorsMatt Stone andTrey Parker called out Paramount for theSkydance merger.
In response, the premiere ofSeason 27 ofSouth Park was delayed to July 27, 2025. Also, the show was taken off ofParamount+ globally while it remains onPluto TV, a Paramount owned service.