January 08, 2005
ON BEHALF OF A GRATEFUL NATION...
... I say thank you to Fox.
Rejecting Rooney's Super ButtPosted by Jeff at January 8, 2005 02:34 PM | TrackBack
The ghost of Janet Jackson's breast apparently has scared off Fox from Mickey Rooney's bottom.
The network's censors have rejected a 15-second commercial designed by the cold-tablet company Airborne for February's Super Bowl in which Rooney shows off his bare 84-year-old backside.
"I would say that he's disappointed," Airborne coowner Rider McDowell said of the screen legend.
A Fox Sports spokesman told USA Today that the commercial was deemed "inappropriate for broadcast." And although the network didn't mention the words "Janet" or "Jackson," McDowell doesn't need to be a mind reader to see them as a factor in its decision.
McDowell maintains that the Rooney spot "is a whole other scenario."
In the commercial, for which Airborne was willing to pay $1.2 million to air during the game, Rooney is bathing in a sauna when a cough from a nearby person sends The Black Stallion star galloping out of the water. In his huff, he drops his towel, revealing his gluteus maximus to the camera for about "two to three seconds," McDowell said.
Ever the show-biz trouper, Rooney did his own tush work.
"I don't think you could find a body double for Mickey," McDowell said. "He has a unique physique."
To Rooney, there's nothing at all offensive about his bottom. Rather, he finds the Airborne spot "fun" and educational, in a health class kind of way.