Last Friday, MTV took an uncharacteristically moral stance in their decision to not air the "guido punch heard around the world." The conclusion was reluctantly reached when viewers flooded the network with complaints after repeatedly seeing the Jersey Shore promo in which Snooki is knocked out by a male stranger; MTV consulted "experts on the issue of violence," pulled the sequence from last week's episode, and hinted in a statement that they would be taking the issue of violence much more seriously in the future. Now, MTV has a history of teasing its viewers (for instance, the network's name still has the word "music" in the title), but would MTV really reverse its standing on a little excessive violence after spending over a decade building its empire around macho reality personalities smacking each other around? Like an abused housewife who has heard "I'm sorry honey, it won't happen again" one too many times, I'm guessing no. Let's take a look at the evidence.
1993: David Exposes Tami, Real World: Los Angeles
Back in the '93, Real World cast member David was booted from the house after pulling a blanket off his nearly naked roommate despite her shrieking protests. Afterward, Tami yelled at David saying, "It wasn't not funny" and convinced producers that his actions were close enough to rape to disqualify him from the show.
1998: The Slap Heard Around the World, Real World: Seattle
On her way out the door, Irene (the Lyme disease-afflicted housemate who chose to leave early), called David outside and told him, "A marriage between you and I would never work out, you know that. Because you're homosexual, Stephen." Stephen chased after Irene's car, opened her car door, and then proceeded to slap her in the face. The moment has since become one of the most infamous events in Real World history.
1998 - 2002: Claymation Gore, Celebrity Deathmatch
Possibly the most gruesome experiment in MTV history lasted four seasons. The series pitted celebrities against each other in bloody battles that almost always ended in death. Incidents included Rosie O'Donnell being diced into cubes after Oprah shoved her through the Dome of Devastation, Gary Oldman's head being crushed in Christopher Walken's hands, John Tesh ripping David Hasselhoff's face off and Chris Rock impaling and electrocuting Adam Sandler.
2001: Madonna, "What It Feels Like For a Girl"
MTV was one of the few networks to air Madonna's violent music video. Directed by her then-husband, Guy Ritchie, the video showed Madonna assaulting cops, blowing up a gas station, running over people and then committing suicide. The network aired the video late at night after a news special about the controversy surrounding the video's violence aired first. It was the first video to be banned from MTV's daytime programming since Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up."
2002: Guido Death Threat, True Life: I'm Getting Married
Back in 2002, MTV's True Life cast a Staten Island couple named Charlie and Sabrina who made the documentary series a cult favorite overnight, mainly because of one scene in which Charlie threatened to gut and hunt down a limo driver who got lost on the way to pick up the groom's party. While no actual punches were thrown, this remains one of the most haunting moments in MTV history. In many ways, Charlie and Sabrina paved the way for Jersey Shore.
2003: Abe vs. Donell vs. the Term 'Redneck', Road Rules: South Pacific
Abe was the first Road Rules player to be eliminated from two different seasons. In the first, Road Rules: Viewers' Revenge, Abe punched Adam. In South Pacific, he knocked out Donell for calling him "ignorant."
2005: A Local Punches Danny, Real World: Austin
Danny learned that the reality TV is not all its cracked up to be when an angry local charged him and literally broke his face the first night of taping.
2007: Kid Rock and Tommy Lee Battle, Video Music Awards
As we learned this year, the VMAs are most exciting when they ditch the scripted for the spontaneous. In 2007, show producers were startled when the two artists threw punches during an Alicia Keyes performance. While the tumble made it into the live broadcast, it was edited out of repeats.
2007: Cape Town Smackdown, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno 3
In this iteration of RW/RR, a fight broke out before contestants could even complete their first mission. This time, CT slammed his first into Davis' face, immediately eliminating him from the competition.
2008: MTV's First Televised Headbutting Incident, A Shot at Love II with Tila Tequila_
After airing over a decade worth of pent-up reality rage, Chad became the only contestant in television history to be disqualified for headbutting a fellow contestant on a bisexual dating show. Victim Bo was sent to the hospital for reconstructive chin surgery -- and did not even win Tila's love.
2009: Vicious Overalls Fight, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Duel
Possibly the most dangerous of the on-camera battles, CT (who was already kicked off the Inferno challenge in 2007) pounded on fellow cast member Adam because he believed that Adam had told his ex-girlfriend that he was sleeping around on the show. This is one of the rare instances during which the production crew actually tried to stop the fight.
2009 Spencer Throws, The Hills
So chances are that this fifth season scene involved extensive stunt choreography and at least one body double, but Spencer hit his sister's boyfriend, Cameron, after Cameron told his sister that Spencer was flirting with a bartender.
2009: Darrell Takes on Brad, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Ruins
After a long night of drinking, Brad tried to instigate a wrestling match, and succeeded, when Darrell smashed him in the face and both players were evicted from the game and forced to forfeit their winnings.