Gianna Angelopoulos, head of Athens 2004, in a letter to the Los Angeles Times warned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) watchdog not to punish NBC television that aired the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
There have been many complaints about the August 13 Opening Ceremony where there was male nudity, a woman’s breast and simulated sex.
Reuters reports that Angelopoulos wrote in the letter, “far from being indecent, the opening ceremonies were beautiful, enlightening, uplifting and enjoyable. Greece does not wish to be drawn into an American culture war. Yet that is exactly what is happening”.
Angelopoulos said, “we also showed a couple enjoying their love of the Greek sea and each other. And we told the history of Eros, the god of love. Turning love, yearning and desire into a deity is an important part of our contribution to civilization”.
She added, “as Americans surely are aware there is great hostility in the world today to cultural domination in which a single value system created elsewhere diminishes and degrades local cultures. In this context it is astonishingly unwise for an agency of the U.S. government to engage in an investigation that could label a presentation of the Greek origins of civilization as unfit for television viewing”.