Pulp Friction

p>Quentin Tarantino, whose movies are sprinkled liberally with profanity, tried to keep it clean when he appeared as a guest judge on the squeaky-clean ''American Idol'' this week. However, the New York Post reports, he couldn't help but let slip the f-word, even though he used only the euphemism ''f-ing.'' Nonetheless, Fox reportedly deemed even that milder expression ineffable and cut it from the broadcast.

According to a Post source who claimed to have attended Tuesday's taping, the ''Kill Bill'' filmmaker initially responded to La Toya London's performance by telling her ''You're an f-in' powerhouse!'' In the post-Janet Jackson atmosphere of letter-writing campaigns and FCC fines, the show's censors decided that even that comment might go too far and stopped the taping. Tarantino did a second take, this time uttering his compliment without the offending gerund. Guess this means that, if Snoop Dogg ever serves as a guest judge, they'll cut his remarks so that the shizzle doesn't hit the fans.