ABC finds 'Idiot' ad controversy a bit ... you know

ABC says nothing out of the ordinary happened in repsonse to a mini-controversy that brewed today in which The Weinstein Co. co-chairman Harvey Weinstein accused the network of censorship for refusing to air the above ad for feature film "Our Idiot Brother," which opens in theaters Friday.

ABC confirmed that it told Weinstein Co. it would need to make edits to the 30-second commercial before it would be accepted, but said the requests were in line with its standards.

"The ABC Television Network approved and accepted multiple spots for "Our Idiot Brother," and has aired spots for this film," ABC said in a statement. "The network did not accept spots that violated our long-established ad guidelines."

The ad in question has aired on other cable and broadcast networks, Weinstein Co. said in a statement. An early scene in the ad shows Paul Rudd's title character jokingly pretending to urinate by squeezing a juicebox near his crotch, and near the end he says, “I broke down and went and smoked with a kid who lives across the street from me.”

In announcing the release of a new online trailer for the film, Weinstein said, "We'd like to dedicate our new red band trailer for 'Our Idiot Brother' to censorship everywhere." Not that this was exactly a textbook definition of censorship, but anyway ...