NY radio station fined $240k for female 'Smackfest


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NY radio station WQHT Hot 97 has been fined a whopping $240,000 (?134,480) for running an on-air contestwhere young women were encouraged to slap each other silly to win cash and other prizes.>

The "Smackfest" entertainment initiative - which ran from April 2004 to January 2005, attracted the attention of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the Athletic Commission because of a "a potential violation of state law on promotion of a combative sport", the BBC reports. Slap-happy females went at it with gusto in return for concert tickets or up to $5k.

For its trouble, WQHT Hot 97 now has to stump up $240k - part of which will go to a "domestic violence awareness charity". A suitably pleased Spitzer declared: "The law establishes set boundaries that cannot be crossed to protect our community's health and safety," further announcing: "This agreement should be a wake-up call to all those in the entertainment industry who think outrageousness is a clever marketing strategy."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/10/slaps_wins_prizes/ :woot::

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I saw the video clip and thought it was pretty funny myself. What's the difference between this and something like boxing? You've got 2 contestants who know full-well what is going on and they participated out of free-will. As far as I know, none of them have sued or complained.

Seriously, anything you do nowdays in the terms of entertainment, you must either pay an insane amount of money to have agencies turn their heads or you have to get permission. F*&king ridiculous if you ask me.

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Thats good for them, maybe this way they can start to devote the station to playing more music instead of all these stuping ideas they come up with for the morning shows. Hot 97 has been very sh*ty for the past couple of years anyway.....

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I saw the video clip and thought it was pretty funny myself. What's the difference between this and something like boxing? You've got 2 contestants who know full-well what is going on and they participated out of free-will. As far as I know, none of them have sued or complained.

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Exactly, it's like boxing, which requires a license.

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Hot 97 is probably one of the dumbest stations in the tristate area, they have a twisted sense of humor that they think is great for ratings, to be honest the airwaves would be better off if hot 97 wasnt around. krok knows what to do because they do it very subtle same goes with z100 and ktu (but nobody listens to that one :p )

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I saw the video - it was just awesome. Never seen anything quite like it. Hard to believe that they can outlaw that kind of stuff though. Plus a fine? I mean, these were willing participants.

Silly regulations.

They should never, ever be able to outlaw female on female action. :p

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I saw the video - it was just awesome.  Never seen anything quite like it.  Hard to believe that they can outlaw that kind of stuff though.  Plus a fine?  I mean, these were willing participants.

Silly regulations.

They should never, ever be able to outlaw female on female action. :p

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The problem is that they didn't have a liscence. Just like you can't have unliscensed boxing you cant have unliscensed girl on girl slapfests.

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The problem is that they didn't have a liscence. Just like you can't have unliscensed boxing you cant have unliscensed girl on girl slapfests.

I still don't get why it has to be regulated. The Government just gets too much into our stuff. :(

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I still don't get why it has to be regulated.  The Government just gets too much into our stuff. :(

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Because if someone was injured, there would be even worse issues to worry about. Just like in NY, professional wrestling shows are required to have matting around the outside of the ring. It's for the protection of those involved, willing or not.

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Because if someone was injured, there would be even worse issues to worry about. Just like in NY, professional wrestling shows are required to have matting around the outside of the ring. It's for the protection of those involved, willing or not.

Maybe I'm dense, but I'm still thinking it's none of the states business.

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Maybe I'm dense, but I'm still thinking it's none of the states business.

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It is the state's business to make sure venues and such are handled properly. There are people who, to save a buck, would ignore the safety of their fighters and put innocent people in harm's way. While there was no severe danger here, it's still an event that fits into that category of combative sports.

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They didn't have the proper license for a combative sport event.

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Chris....you just made someone a bazillionare... you stay tuned. Sanctioned "Smackfest" will become a licensed sport. :pinch: :laugh:

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