AT&T Censors Anti-Bush Pearl Jam Lyrics During Lollapalooza

Posted by Howie Klein at 6:23 AM on August 9, 2007.

This post, written by Howie Klein, originally appeared on Down With Tyranny!

CMJ is reporting that AT&T censored Pearl Jam's Lollapalooza set on Sunday. Maybe they figured no one would notice. I guess this has to be expected when one gets in bed with freedom's mortal enemy: corporations, which will always pimp for the status quo. The was an AT&T Blue Room live broadcast set up and an AT&T "content monitor" found "Daughter" too risque for Lollapalooza fans.

Here's a live version of the song:



Maybe they objected to Eddie quoting that subversive Neil Young! No, it wasn't that. According to the Pearl Jam website it was lines sung by Eddie: "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush find yourself another home" that offended them so. Pearl Jam doesn't seem too happy:

Most telecommunications companies oppose "net neutrality" and argue that the public can trust them not to censor..

Even the ex-head of AT&T, CEO Edward Whitacre, whose company sponsored our troubled webcast, stated just last March that fears his company and other big network providers would block traffic on their networks are overblown..

"Any provider that blocks access to content is inviting customers to find another provider." (Marguerite Reardon, Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: March 21, 2006, 2:23 PM PST).

But what if there is only one provider from which to choose?

If a company that is controlling a webcast is cutting out bits of our performance -not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations - fans have little choice but to watch the censored version.

What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band.

Too bad 2 decades of reactionary government have destroyed all the countervailing forces that could protect us against unbridled corporate power. Anyone think Hillary will change that? A little?

Tagged as: anti-war, music, censorship, at&t, pearl jam, lollapalooza

Howie Klein is the blog master for Down With Tyranny!