ManCrunch.com — no relation to PopCrunch.com (LOL) — has a bone to pick with CBS. The dating site, which caters to homosexual men, says they’ve been royally dissed by network, which is accused of snubbing the site’s bid to broadcast a commercial during next weekend’s Super Bowl. The network told the Web site that the ad roster was already full, but sources say that a number of spots still remain unsold. The controversy comes just days after the network agreed to air a pro-life abortion spot, featuring college football star Tim Tebow.
This year’s Super Bowl will see the Indianapolis Colts take on the New Orleans Saints in Miami Sunday, Feb. 7. The NFL’s championship game is expected to reach an estimated one-third of 300 million Americans.
In a letter to ManCrunch, CBS said that it refused to air the commercial because it “is not within the network’s broadcast standards for Super Bowl Sunday.”
“After reviewing the ad – which is entirely commercial in nature – our standards and practices department decided not to accept this particular spot,” the statement continued.
CBS maintained that it would consider an alternative ad, should ManCrunch opt to submit one.
“If the ad showed a man and woman kissing it would have been accepted. You see ads for erectile dysfunction morning, noon and night. It’s discriminatory that they won’t show this,” ManCruch spokesperson Elissa Butcher remarked. “If the ad doesn’t air on the Super Bowl, it will air on another network. It’s not like it plays like Adam Lambert [kissing another man on the AMAs].”