Channel 3 fined B500,000 for 'breastgate' scandal
Channel 3 operator Bangkok Entertainment Company (BEC) has been fined B500,000 for the ‘breastgate’ scandal that infuriated Thailand’s Culture Ministry and set off debate through Thai society about cultural mores.
Coconuts Bangkok
Thursday 21 June 2012, 12:50PM
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission levied the fine for violation of Article 37 of the 2008 Broadcasting Act.
The offending incident took place on Sunday’s Thailand’s Got Talent episode when a young woman poured paint upon her bare breasts and smeared them on a canvas, see earlier story here.
Perapong Manakij, chairman of NBTC’s subcommittee on programming and content, said that executives and producers of the show had admitted their mistakes in not censoring the risque act, the Nation reported.
Culture Minister Sukumol Kunplome yesterday (June 20) demanded that the producers should apologise for broadcasting the inappropriate content.
She refused to comment on allegations that the young woman, 23-year old nude model Duangjai Jansaunoi, had been hired by the producers to pull the stunt.
One aspect of the controversy that really got tongues wagging around Thailand was the reaction of Thailand’s Got Talent judge Pornchita “Benz” Na Songkhla during the performance on the show – her jaw dropped in disbelief, she said it was inappropriate, and she expressed her disapproval by walking off the stage.
It later came to light that the actress herself had once posed topless, covered in body paint, and in the arms of two naked men for a magazine photo shoot.
View the original story on Coconuts Bangkok here.
