Adrian Pasdar is in a tricky spot.
He’s married to Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines, whose critical comments about President Bush got her into some hot water with conservatives and country music fans a few years ago. He’s also a star of NBC’s hit drama “Heroes.”
There’s the rub.
You see, NBC made news this week by rejecting ads for the upcoming documentary “Shut Up &Sing,” which is about the fallout from Maines’ controversial statement in 2003. The network cited its policy against running advertisements on issues of public controversy. The CW has also rejected the ad, while CBS and Fox reportedly have not yet decided whether to run it.
Pasdar didn’t seem to come in to Tuesday’s conference call about “Heroes” prepared to go on a rant about NBC’s decision, but it didn’t take much to set him off when he was asked about it halfway through the hourlong call.
“I can’t say I condone that behavior by NBC,” Pasdar said. “I think it’s cowardly, ultimately. It’s free television and it serves the people, and when a network takes it upon themselves to be the sieve of what’s acceptable and what’s not … you look at all these slander, smear campaigns that are put on TV by various candidates come election time. They’re accusing each other of everything under the sun on TV, and apparently that’s OK.
“But I think when a network takes it upon themselves to censor what can be advertised, in terms of a trailer for a movie, it’s a sad commentary that that’s taken place, and I would be a liar if I didn’t say I was extremely disappointed.”
– Victor Balta
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