The CRTC has ruled that, although ‘completely inappropriate,’ a racial slur used on air by Tele-Quebec talk show host Benoit Dutrizac does not qualify as abusive language under federal rules. Dutrizac was under investigation for a Jan. 9 airing of Les Francs-tireurs and a segment on street crime in which he referred, in French, to ‘nigger gangs’ in Montreal. Acting on a viewer complaint, the Commission found that the remark was a lapse on Dutrizac’s part, but ‘not contemptuous or hateful’ as defined and prohibited by federal regulations.