'Puto' Is Faggot in Spanish: Why Does the Word Air Regularly on TV?

glaadmedia

'Jose Luis Sin Censura.'

Puto. You've heard the word. But do you know how bad it is? It's essentially Spanish for faggot.

And it flies regularly on television's Jose Luis Sin Censura show, a sort of Mexican Jerry Springer (that last part of the title means uncensored) that airs locally on KRCA (estrellaTV).

It's not the kind of word you would hear often on English-language TV. Even on Jerry Springer. And the National Hispanic Media Coalition has had enough:

The organization has already paired up with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to ask the Federal Communications Commission to pull the plug on the show for its allegedly anti-gay, misogynistic content.

Now NHMC and GLAAD want more. They have scheduled a news conference for today to announce their "next steps in the campaign against the show."

The 10 a.m. conference will be held outside KCRA (1845 W Empire Ave., Burbank) and will also target the show's producer, Liberman Broadcasting, Inc. (LBI).

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The groups note that LBI's lawyer is none other than Rocky Delgadillo, the former L.A. city attorney. They say they've met with him on the "puto" issue (and others) to no avail.

They state:

As recently as May 30, episodes aired in which audiences chanted "puta" ("Whore! Whore! Whore!") at a female guest, and the terms "puñal," "maricón" and "joto" (or "f*ggot") were used. Audience members were allowed to chant "puto! puto! puto!" (or "f*ggot") at a man they thought to be gay.

No es bueno.

[Update at 4:50 p.m.]: GLAAD's Brian Pacheco tells us that thousands of signatures of folks unhappy with the show's airing of such language were presented to producer LBI during today's press conference.

Opponents of the show also unlocked this (probably NSFW) video clip compilation of the words in question flying left and right during episodes of the show:

Pacheco:

... José Luis Sin Censura is in a class of its own; that Spanish-language news media tends to produce decent to excellent coverage of LGBT issues, while entertainment shows do anywhere from bad to decent. There is definitely a gap in terms of federal regulation, and LBI is certainly taking advantage of it, while other Spanish-Language networks, at least for the most part, self regulate.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]