Bridgestone Tires Presents a Former Registered Sex Offender as Your Super Bowl Halftime Show Entertainment

Pete Townshend of the Who Pleaded Guilty to Accessing Child Pornography

Ron Hart
The Super Bowl halftime show will feature The Who, whose founding member Pete Townshend once pleaded guilty to accessing child porn on his computer and as a result was a registered sex offender.

The details behind Townshend's actions are murky to this day. He has been an outspoken advocate for protecting children from abuse as he himself claims to have been victimized as a young boy. He claimed at the time that he paid for access to a child pornography site as part of his ongoing research into the grotesque world of child pornography. In fact, Townshend had previously published a research paper on child pornography.

Townshend was never convicted for consuming child pornography. But it seems to defy logic that anybody would on their own purchase child porn, without first securing legal protection, if their motives were simply to research the topic. It would be akin to committing armed robbery at bank and later claiming that it was for research purposes.

That the NFL, CBS, and the Super Bowl halftime show sponsor Bridgestone Tires would all select a man who admitted to purchasing child pornography and who spent time as a registered sex offender to perform at their Super Bowl halftime show.

In 2004, the nation caused a brief glimpse of Janet Jackson's breast. The incident created outrage and the NFL and its partner networks resolved to make sure its halftime shows in the future were good, clean family fun.

Almost certainly, somewhere today a young person will be watching the Super Bowl halftime show and will be introduced to the music of The Who and Pete Townshend. They will Google the topics to find out more about them. They will read about pleading guilty to accessing child pornography and his having spent time as a registered sex offender. Not totally understanding, the young person will go out and ask his or her mom and dad what this all means. While good parents will use this as a teaching moment, is this really what the Super Bowl halftime show is supposed to be about? Is this really the image that Bridgestone Tires wants? Is this really want the NFL wants?

Pete Townshend, former registered sex offender, performing live at the Super Bowl halftime show is apparently fine...Janet Jackson's bare breast was a major problem, however.

Source: Matt Gutman, "Super Bowl Furor: Pete Townshend Defends Halftime Act Amid Child Porn Accusations", abcnews.com

Published by Ron Hart

Ron Hart lives in New York. His interests are varied and include sports, politics and great Big Apple restaurants. He is a big baseball fan and enjoys discussing, debating and watching sports. He also enj...   View profile

5 Comments

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  • Andrew Miller 2/8/2010

    I'd like to point something out to Mister Hart. Townshend was never convicted of any crime. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty by a jury of their peers - and once they're cleared of charges, that's it. They have been deemed INNOCENT, and therefore no longer under suspicion.

    By contrast, circulating online articles spreading false information about others, ignoring the legalities and the facts? That's something called "libel."
    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/libel

    In other words, while Townshed was never convicted of anything and the facts support his innocence... Mister Hart is now guilty of a crime, and he and this online publication are now open to a civil suit if Mister Townshed so desires.

  • Melissa in Syracuse 2/7/2010

    Right, unfounded allegations...soooo, your story is based on??? call him arrogant, at times he has come off that way, call him a difficult musician, probably would get the thumbs up from Daltry. But child molestor?? Not so much.

  • President 2/7/2010

    Ron Hart is an idiot! Did he forget that 14 of Pete Townshend's computer's along with an exhaustive police search found NO evidence of child porn. Townshend never downloaed a single image of cild porn. Therefore, Pete Townshend was completely cleared of wrong doing. The sexual offender's list was a requirement per British Law. Ron Hart should apologize to Pete Townshend for spinning the facts of this Rock Legend!

  • WhoGivesAShixx 2/7/2010

    I second it. Paste a decal and your car and shut up. WaaHHH

  • PeteWins 2/7/2010

    Blah blah blah

    You've gotten all the publicity you wanted now do us all a favor and piss off.

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