HornyManatee.com Legal Issues

[TromboneAl]

On Monday night, Conan O'brien had some joke about horny manatees (don't ask), and casually made some joke about somebody visiting a web site called "hornymanatee.com."

The next night he said that he'd then gotten a call from the legal department saying that if he mentioned a web site on the air that didn't exist, NBC, for legal reasons, needed to create that web site. So NBC created the web site, which you may visit if you want.

Now, it's hard to know where the fact ends and the joke begins, but do you think there would be any legal reason for NBC creating a web site that was mentioned on the air but didn't exist??

 

[mickeyd]

that if he mentioned a web site on the air that didn't exist, NBC, for legal reasons, needed to create that web site

I find this very interesting Al, thanks for posting it here. I have no knowledge in this area at all but evidently, revealing a website on TV is worth a lot of $. For instance, if NBC would not snap up hornymanatee.com someone else would surely claim it and it would probably already be a new porn site this morning. By NBC claiming it, no one else gets it. I guess you would call it a defensive move.

I used to watch Howard Stern on "E network" from time to time, and I remember that once he had a gal on who had a porn website featuring her and her friends and he would allow her to plug her website each time that she removed an article of clothing or would agree to participate in some kind of sexually degrading stunt on the show. For example, "If you allow us to pour a gallon of motor oil on your nude boobs, you can plug the web site".

Maybe a poor example, but evidently plugging a site has a real value and NBC just would rather claim the site rather than get involved in the unknown. At least it keeps the lawyers employed or becoming ERd.