Freedom of words ? Not if it ’s view as " obscene . " These renown find that out the hard way . Though they were n’t all convict , they did terminate up defend pricey battles in court and had their name dragged through the mud , though in some cases - look at you , Hugh Hefner - it only helped their movement . Read on for tidy sum of repugnant material .
1.If you ’re buy the farm strictly by his arrest phonograph recording , comedianLenny Bruceis the King of Obscenity . From 1961 to 1964 , Bruce was arrested four time for using all kinds of piquant language . halt # 1 was made on October 4 , 1961 , at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco , after he used the Holy Writ “ c***sucker ” in a show and also did a act called “ To is a Preposition ; Come is a Verb . ” Though he was acquitted , law enforcement started keep a faithful optic on him , which result in arrest # 2 for his use of the word “ schmuck , ” the Yiddish word for penis . Arrests # 3 and # 4 both materialise at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village in April 1964 , where undercover agent said he used more than 100 repulsive words . In 2003 , New York Governor George Pataki posthumously pardoned Bruce for the last two charges .
2.You know who also got check at Lenny Bruce ’s “ Schmuck ” performance?George Carlin . Cops IDed everyone in the audience , and when they got to a young Carlin , he told them he did n’t conceive in government IDs . He was cart down to the place in the same wagon as Bruce . No doubt Carlin was a bit lofty when he was slap with an obscenity charge of his very own for perform his famous “ Seven Dirty Words ” procedure in Milwaukee in 1972 .
3.Obscenity electric charge certainly did n’t get down with the comedy scene of the ‘ sixty . BawdyMae Westwas sentenced to 10 sidereal day in jail for a play she wrote , produced , directed and asterisk in . It was calledSex , and it was deemed too steamy for 1927 audience . West serve eight Day before she was loose ; she later bragged that the warden let her wear her own silk underwear instead of the scratchy prison house issue ones .
4.When you see thePlayboyBunny logotype on everything from casinos to realism show , it ’s almost hard to conceive of thatHugh Hefner ’s mag was once revile . The cartridge had been published for a decade ( though not without complaint ) before Hef was turn back on obscenity charges interrelate to a particularly racy exposure shoot featuring Jayne Mansfield . Hef showed up at his trial with a Playmate on his subdivision and evidence that only 5 % of the powder magazine was dedicate to nude or semi - nude women , and that everyone essentially just take to cool out . A panel acquitted him 7 - 5 .
5.The Doors’Jim Morrisonwas charged with salaciousness ( “ open profanity ” ) and indecent photo in 1969 after he allegedly asked a Miami consultation if they wanted to see what was in his pants . He then unzipped them and proceeded to simulate some rather rude things . Several of George Carlin ’s Seven foul Words were used . Morrison was arrested several day afterward and was sentence to six calendar month in jail after being found guilty at the ensuing trial . He appealed and was released on a $ 50,000 bond . Morrison was posthumously excuse in 2010 by the Florida Board of Executive Clemency .
6.2 Live Crewfaced salaciousness charges in 1990 when police officers contribute tape recorders to one of their shows in Fort Lauderdale . The two - calendar week test was a bit idiotic ; the chief evidence was a recording of such humbled quality that the lyrics were entirely unintelligible . The jury at last found for the group .
7.Jim Morrison did n’t have a monopoly on lewd onstage activities . Wendy O. Williamsof the punk rocker ring the Plasmatics was hold on January 28 , 1981 , for pay back a small too frisky with a maul in front of her audience . Shortly thereafter , Williams performed topless in Cleveland , wearing only electric tape measure and shaving emollient to cover the “ obscene ” bits . It did n’t stop Cleveland law enforcement from slapping her with another obscenity bang .
8.Less than a yr afterBobby Brownand Whitney Houston got splice in 1992 , Brown was cited in Augusta , Georgia , for “ simulated sexual relation in a bottom on stage during the 5th song of a recent concert . ”
