Two minor points:
1. If it’s obvious that the woman is saying “Shut the fuck up,” then it’s pointless to bleep it out. In fact. it’s dishonest. The show deliberately featured a woman repeating a vulgar phrase, and pretends that it disapproves.
2. As the audition’s are screened, ABC is responsible for taking one more chunk out of American public civility. But then ABC inflicts “The View” on the nation, so this hardly represents a major lowering of standards.
Ethics Alarms 
Jack, please do not be such a square! I am still laughing at this one, and I will probably replay this one tomorrow. I am quite disappointed that she did not make it till the next round. This lady is doing rap, and vulgar language is expected for that genre. As Justice Potter said “One man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric”.
Jack: “If it’s obvious that the woman is saying “Shut the fuck up,” then it’s pointless to bleep it out.”
I disagree. But, more importantly, the FCC disagrees. The audition itself may have some kind of “entertainment” value, but it would be a violation of the network’s FCC license to air it in an unedited form. Thus, at least arguably, it would be unethical for the network to air it in its unedited form.
And, let’s face it: without the FCC restriction, they probably would have broadcast the uncensored version.
-Jut
My objection to the bleeping is consistent with my similar objection to using “f-word” and other codes for vulgar and obscene words. If X=Y, then it’s the same as saying Y. The FCC restriction is illusory unless it stops the entire context that makes the vulgarism clear. The same goes for the moronic use of implied obscenity, as in ads for Family Feud that say the show will make you say, “What the Feud?” If that’s going to satisfy the FCC, then it should go ahead and allow “fuck.’
Yes, you are being consistent, but I think you also know that the moronic use of implied obscenity can be part of a broader form of comedy, making its use legitimate in some instances.
Perhaps the most skillful use of this type of comedy would be the “Candid Photography” sketch (better known as “Nudge Nudge”) by Monty Python, where there was implied obscenity but it was so vague as to almost be incomprehensible.
Granted, this American Idol example is VERY far removed from Candid Photography.
-Jut
Very.
A sports radio station I used to listen to had a funny segment called “unnecessary censorship.” They would play sound bites from after game press conferences and bleep innocent words to make the coach/player sound like they were extremely foul mouthed.
“If that’s going to satisfy the FCC, then it should go ahead and allow “fuck.’”
What would be against that? George Carlin had a famous skit back in the day about seven words that you cannot say on television. I have to agree with George Carlin, having any government institution censor speech on television based on decency/obscenity grounds is ridiculous.
Justice Stewart Potter used the phrase to describe his threshold test for obscenity in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964):
“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [“hard-core pornography”], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that. “
Well, I do not believe than an incidental f-word is obscenity worthy of government censorship either. In my personal view calling people racist and Nazi on television because of how they vote is way more obscene. And the only proper discipline for “obscenity” on television are low ratings and viewing numbers by the public.