The Walking Dead FCC Complaints Call the Show Troubling and Offensive

FCC complaints filed against The Walking Dead call the hit AMC zombie series offensive and troubling.The series carries a TV-MA rating and warns that “viewer discretion is advised” for episodes containing graphic violence. The Walking Dead was the subject of complaints sent into the FCC after an episode depicting the vicious murders of Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) and Glenn (Steven Yeun), victims executed by Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his barbwire-wrapped baseball bat in the Season 7 premiere. One complaint called the episode “beyond brutal, beyond sick and beyond evil.” More recent complaints target The Walking Dead‘s latest villains, the Whisperers, who use the flesh of walkers to walk with the dead. 

“It is incredibly offensive, disturbing and downright troubling and gruesome. Is there some way to make this stop,” reads one complaint about the series in documents obtained by Observer, who requested complaints filed from January 1, 2017 to February 1, 2020, covering the second half of Season 7 through the first half of Season 10. A standard disclaimer provided by the FCC notes “a complaint or comment does not necessarily indicate any wrongdoing” by a program.

Some complaints lodged against The Walking Dead do not come from fans: included in the documents are complaints from people who witnessed advertisements for the AMC series while watching other channels, including CMT and the Hallmark Channel.

Slide 1

“How is such violent (and sexual) content allowed on tv?” wrote one viewer from Texas, who added, “AMC seems to be a satanic tv network and I believe this is a free channel, not a paid channel.” 

Slide 2

Reads a complaint filed from a viewer in Florida after the gory executions of Abraham and Glenn, “Watching human beings bashed over the head with a [sic] barbwired basball bat over and over is just plain gore. Here I am days later and still freaked out rom what I saw and can’t erase the image from my memory. It was that horrific.”

Slide 3

An individual from Georgia considered filing a lawsuit against the show and network AMC, writing, “If I knew the process to file a lawsuit and had the funds I would do so. This kind of violence has no place in this country.” 

Slide 4

Taking issue with the realistic special effects crafted by Greg Nicotero, which includes walkers and the Whisperers clad in walker skins, one individual from North Carolina complained about being subjected to advertisements for The Walking Dead while watching CMT because the TV spot showed “a man cutting, sewing and wearing the skin of another human as a mask.” The complaint continued, “[I was] watching Princess Diaries 2 for goodness sakes, and now I have that vivid sickening image in my mind! I couldn’t get to the remote quick enough to change the channel before it was over.” 

Slide 5

One Hallmark Channel viewer in Texas claimed they were “ready to completely stop watching TV” because of “nonstop ads for AMC’s The Walking Dead on other channels, specifically, the Hallmark channel. It is a wholesome, clean channel, but these advertisements void that. They show people making gruesome masks made out of what appears to be rotting human skin. I do NOT want to see this or be exposed to it at all.” 

Slide 6

Similarly, another TV watcher from Texas had trouble avoiding commercials for The Walking Dead, even after switching channels: “While watching the Food Network’s ‘The Pioneer Woman‘ at 8am on Sunday (2/10/19), they showed the walking dead [sic] commercial of a person sewing a mask made out of a human head. I changed the channel to TV Land so I wouldn’t have to see it but then on TV Land while watching The Golden Girls, they showed that commercial, too. It’s a gross, disgusting depiction that I believe is inappropriate for morning shows. I’m glad I wasn’t eating my breakfast at the time.” 

Slide 7

Someone from Ohio complained The Walking Dead “showed a moron sewing a face of another as a mask” before calling the show “f—ing filth.” 

Slide 8

A complaint from Michigan cited the colorful language used by Negan, writing, “With the introduction of Negan, words such as; dick, dickhead, balls, prick, ass are too common on this program.”

Slide 9

Reads another complaint from Georgia, submitted in 2017, “I am filing a huge complaint against the violence that was on display in the walking dead over the past year. The show has crossed a line into satanic over the top violence. You should all be ashamed and may go [sic] have mercy on your souls.” 

The Walking Dead next airs the Season 10 finale, “A Certain Doom,” as a special episode later this year. For all things TWD, follow the author @CameronBonomolo on Twitter.