This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes”, April 23, 2004, that has been edited for clarity.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Pat Boone is the original American idol. And his DVD of patriotic titled “American Glory” is in stores right now.
And he joins us from Los Angeles, the legendary singer Pat Boone.
PAT BOONE, SINGER: Oh, hey, Sean.
HANNITY: Hi, Pat. What are you reading?
BOONE: I’m reading a terrific book, “Deliver us from Evil” by — oh, Sean Hannity.
HANNITY: I did not ask you to do that. Thank you.
BOONE: I know you didn’t. Listen, this is a terrific book. And I love what you keep stressing, that we are choosing our future.
That’s exactly why I’m here to talk with you, because we are going to decide, we are deciding whether we’re going to have a future as Americans with no morals, no guidelines, if we’re going to actually justify the Muslim attitude toward us that we are depraved because the stuff we export overseas through television and the Internet and through movies makes us seem to be to fit that description.
HANNITY: Let me explore what you’re saying here. Are you saying because of the garbage we produce as a free society…
BOONE: Yes.
HANNITY: … that the Muslim world or some of the extremists would look at that and say, “We don’t want that and we’ve got to fight to the death to prevent what we are seeing?”
Am I interpreting you right?
BOONE: I hear them saying — I hear them saying around the world, “See, we told you they are Satanic. They are the great Satan. Look at their big Super Bowl game, the biggest TV show of the year, and Justin Timberlake and Janet, they’re up there humping, getting dogs excited across the country.”
And then the content of the song is, “I’m going to have your clothes off by the end of this song.” And then…
HANNITY: Off it comes.
BOONE: Off comes this thing and of course, it was supposedly an accident. But if you see the videotape as we’ve all seen it so many times, when the thing pulls loose and she’s exposed, her hand starts up, like any woman’s would and then goes back down.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Hey, Pat.
BOONE: Anyway, that’s far afield. We’re talking about censorship, which I think is necessary.
COLMES: Explain to me, Pat — it’s good to have you on the show. It’s Alan.
BOONE: Hi, Alan.
COLMES: What do you mean by censorship? What do you want to see happen?
BOONE: I want the FCC and I want the American people to demand it, as they did after that Super Bowl incident and as they’re increasingly doing about shows like Howard Stern and others, insisting that the FCC make the guidelines clear and distinct.
Censorship is not a bad word. It’s just law. It’s just order. It’s the American people saying we want certain things to be forbidden for our family’s sake. You can still play football, but you play within the guidelines.
COLMES: You told me on radio last night you like to see the Howard Stern show as it is now forbidden. You would like the government or the FCC, whoever makes that decision, those decisions, to make sure that that kind of a show is not on the air for anybody to consume?
BOONE: No. Not exactly. I think Howard Stern has a right to be on the air. I think people need to tell him he doesn’t have the right to use four letter words, to have women nude, to talk about and even depict sex acts and all stuff he does.
I’ve seen him degrade handicapped people and make fun of them on the show. And I’ve seen him put women in the most embarrassing positions and exploit them right on the air. Nudity and shock and schlock.
I think — as they are, Viacom is being told, you either clean up the act to some extent…
COLMES: I may not agree with all of the things you mentioned Howard does, but do you want a morality police? Do you want a censorship police to say what he’s doing shouldn’t be heard and unless he changes the show, it should not be on the air? And that is a content decision being made by a group of government censors and that’s the America you want to live in?
BOONE: Yes. The government, as I told you last night, the government is supposed to be we the people, we elect representatives, and then the FCC is supposed to be doing our bidding, the public.
But they’ve been brainwashed and intimidated by liberal elements saying, hey, the First Amendment. You can’t deny anybody. You can’t deny Larry Flynt the right to show women’s crotches in magazines. You can’t prohibit Bono from saying the “F” word on television.
The American people need to say, “Yes, we can.”
COLMES: Pat, my concern is — and I know you’re a good intentioned and I like you very much. We talked to each other a number of times.
But what you want to do is you find certain things offensive. When another administration comes in, and they find certain other things offensive that you might agree with and that content gets regulated, you may not be as happy.
So once we start the slippery slope, it’s very dangerous.
BOONE: Well, remember as we said last night, my cry for censorship is not so that I can call any shots. Say the American people need to enact more strongly and demand the FCC censor on three provisos: it be voluntary, majority improved and self-imposed.
That means the American people express their will in a majority way and it’s always subject to change, sure. Another administration comes in maybe the people through that administration may change the guidelines. But I think it should be the people — actually, it’s nobody…
HANNITY: Sean. Pat, I tell you what my concern is. I get letters, they call me a Nazi. They call me — They don’t want my voice. They want me off the radio.
Written to the FCC, “Keep Hannity off. He’s expressing political opinions.”
And I think we’ve got to be — and I hate to even use the world very liberal in allowing people to say whatever they want, especially on the radio, because there was one understanding here. If people don’t like it, they can shut it off.
Don’t people have the responsibility, if they don’t like it — isn’t it ultimately, isn’t it ultimately, why don’t we let them be the decision makers on these things? Because I’m concern they want to silence conservatives.
BOONE: But look here. I agree with you, there is a danger. But I think the danger of not having rules and regulations is worse.
Exhibit A, the Internet. There is no way we can police the Internet. So what’s No. 1 on the Internet? Pornography. No. 2, theft of music. No rules, no regulation.
HANNITY: We’ve got child pornography. Can’t we go after those guys?
BOONE: Sure. Well, not on the Internet. We’re trying.
HANNITY: We’re trying.
BOONE: But it keeps coming. And shows that are blasphemous and nude and obscene, they pollute the environment. And I guarantee the audience for those shows is the young. So as you said, we’re choosing our future.
COLMES: Appreciate you coming on the show.
HANNITY: Thanks.
COLMES: Thanks for being here tonight.
BOONE: Let me give you a Psalm.
COLMES: Ten seconds. We’ve got to go.
BOONE: “The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.” That’s Psalm 12:8.
And from Proverbs, “The mind of the wise inclines to the right, the mind of the fool to the left.” Check it out in Proverbs.
COLMES: Thank you very much.
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