Fox refuses strippers, whipped cream fine

Fox is refusing to pay a $91,000 indecency fine for a reality show in which contestants licked whipped cream off strippers.

The FCC has just reviewed its ruling on a 2003 episode of Married by America. Although they reduced the sum from $1.2m, only charging for Fox stations in areas where viewers complained, commissioners watched the show again and upheld their original decision.

They said: "Even with Fox's editing, the episode includes scenes in which partygoers lick whipped cream from strippers' bodies in a sexually suggestive manner. Another scene features a man on all fours in his underwear as two female strippers playfully spank him.

"Although the episode electronically obscures any nudity, the sexual nature of the scenes is inescapable, as the strippers attempt to lure partygoers into sexually compromising situations."

Fox argued the scenes were not legally indecent and were a key element of the plot.

"Fox believes that the FCC's decision in this case was arbitrary and capricious, inconsistent with precedent and patently unconstitutional," the broadcaster said in a statement.