by Kevin Gillick

Opposition to the planned Super Bowl performance of the rock group, The Who, took a new turn last week, when child advocates filed a criminal complaint against guitarist Pete Townshend.

A Florida activist group, Protect Our Children, has filed a criminal complaint with John Morton, Assistant Secretary of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. A member of the group made the complaint December 7th via the I.C.E. telephone hot line and followed up with a written confirmation to Morton. The report claims that Townshend has been visiting the United States illegally, since he fails to meet the “moral turpitude” standard proscribed in I.N.S. law.

The children’s charity cited Townshend’s sex offender registration as a public recognition that he poses a threat to children. It also claims that when British police took a D.N.A. sample from Townshend, they signaled an expectation that he would commit future sex crimes. Townshend has admitted to using his credit card to view sexualized pictures of children. One photo depicted a two year-old boy being raped by an adult. The letter to Morton suggests that Townshend may be a threat to children who live in the United States.

Townshend says he was doing research for an book when he was caught doing business with a kiddie porn ring operating out of Texas. The F.B.I. lists the “research alibi” as among the most common excuses given by people who are caught trafficking in child pornography.

U.S. immigration law says authorities will deny entrance to “ Aliens convicted of, and those who admit having committed a crime involving moral turpitude (or an attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime).”

Townshend was listed on the United Kingdom’s registry of sex offenders for five years. In 2006 he was forced to remove a pornographic story from his website. The fictional piece which described a sexual liaison between teenagers, prompted an uproar from European child-advocacy groups.

The Who is scheduled to headline the Super Bowl halftime show in Miami, February 7.

by Mark Wigley
Winter 2009

While Pete Townshend is tuning up his guitar in preparation for his appearance at the forty-fourth Super Bowl in Miami, child activists across Florida are moving to block the British sex offender from taking the stage.

“This man admitted to using his credit card to view child pornography on the internet,” says advocate Kevin Gillick. “He was a registered sex offender in the United Kingdom. Not only should he be banned from the Super Bowl, he shouldn’t be allowed in this country at all.”

Townshend, 64, one of two surviving members of the iconic rock group The Who, will perform with Roger Daltry at the event in February. CBS made the NFL’s decision public on Thanksgiving day.

Pete Townshend was arrested in 2003 after getting caught viewing multiple kiddie-porn images, including a photo of a two year-old boy being raped by an adult. He excuses the act by claiming he was doing research for a planned book on child abuse. British authorities placed Townshend on their national sex offender registry for five years. He was also “admonished” by police: a quirk of the English justice system by which offenders are brought down to the local precinct and given a “good talking to.”

Gillick dismisses Townshend’s explanation: ”Everyone knows that when you do business with a child pornographer you place an order for his next victim.”

Kevin Gillick is the editor of The Guardian-Brevard, a free newspaper which publishes photos of child molesters along with explicit coverage of their crimes. The paper is distributed in Brevard County; a community on Florida’s East Coast.

“Florida is the place where Jessica Lunsford and Junny Rios-Martinez were murdered by child predators,” he said. “It is the place where Jimmy Ryce and Adam Walsh spent their last days on earth. If the NFL goes through with this performance, they and their sponsors are going to feel the resolve of the people who live here.”

“They will be shocked,” he said. “This is going to be breathtakingly ugly”

A child advocacy group In South Florida has asked NFL Chief Executive, Roger Goodell to drop Townsend from the entertainment venue.

“I trust you will act in the best interests of your audience and advertisers in deciding to drop Townshend from the line-up…” writes Evin Daly in his letter dated November 16.

Daly is the leader of Child AbuseWatch, an internet advocacy group based in Boca Raton. His letter to Goodell points out that Townshend published a salacious story on his blog, describing teenagers having sex. The fictional tale was removed from Townshend’s site after receiving complaints from European child advocacy groups.

The official Super Bowl XLIV web site schedules the game at Dolphin Stadium, February 7, 2010.