The Comedy Network expects to air an episode of The Tom Green Show in which the shock comic burns a Canadian flag.
"This is what Tom does," Ed Robinson, the network's vice-president of programming and general manager, said yesterday. "The guiding principle would be, what's more outrageous -- dead raccoons, burning flags, statues on his parents' front lawn? I mean, pick one."
Most people would only pick one of them -- the flag -- as the official symbol of a nation.
"While I clearly don't agree with people burning any flag of a country, if you're in a free society, if you're in a democracy, everyone has the right to express their opinion," said Robinson, who is reserving the right to change his mind about airing the segment once he's screened it.
On the show, which aired last weekend in the U.S. on MTV, Green and guest Scott Thompson try to convince Green's sidekick Glenn Humplik to move to L.A. When he refuses, Green burns the Maple Leaf.
The Comedy Network has vetoed Tom Green segments in the past, including one in which Green scooped human feces out of a toilet and carried it around in the studio audience and another in which he beat a dead cow's head with a baseball bat.
"There are many situations, not just about Tom Green, but in any show here, where we talk about whether there's a line that's been crossed that's inappropriate for us to air the content. And yes, there is a line and part of my responsibility is to determine where that is.
"But in comedy the lines are pretty far apart," said Robinson.
The Tom Green Show starts airing 17 new episodes in Canada Nov. 19. The flag segment is in an episode at least halfway through the season. Green is a guest on Open Mike With Mike Bullard next Friday.
Green will also be a presenter on the live national broadcast of The Gemini Awards Nov. 7.
"Tom is Tom, and he's unpredictable," said Maria Topalovich, president and CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. "I think everybody's going to have to tune in to find out. It is live television."
-- with files from Canadian Press
