Carlin's 7 Dirty Words
Archive Highlights
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2m 55s
George Carlin’s landmark 1972 album Class Clown contained a controversial routine about censorship called “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” While performing the routine live before an audience of 35,000 on July 21, 1972, at Summerfest in Milwaukee, Carlin was surrounded by police and arrested in violation of obscenity laws. The next morning’s newspapers were plastered with photos of Carlin’s arrest, reigniting contentious debates about freedom of speech and comedy that had been brewing since the 1960s. Carlin did not attend his December 1972 court trial, but sent a copy of Class Clown in his stead. The judge, who was himself observed chuckling in the courtroom as the album played, dismissed the case, citing Carlin’s First Amendment protections. The high-profile case set a precedent for generations of comedians who would follow.
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