LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17 — When a federal appeals court ruled last summer that broadcast networks were not responsible for censoring “fleeting expletives” uttered on television, Fox hailed it as a victory for viewers, saying they could decide themselves “what is appropriate viewing for their home.”

But when some performers and award winners blurted out expletives on Sunday night on Fox’s broadcast of the 59th Primetime Emmys — including one that came during antiwar comments — Fox censors hit the delete button, leaving viewers with confusing seconds of dead air and wondering whether the censorship was of language or of political views. Fox said it was only language.

Remarks by Sally Field and Ray Romano — and even an expletive of surprise, spoken away from a microphone by Katherine Heigl — were cut. Dead air replaced the words, and the video cut to a wide shot of the auditorium when performers were deemed by the Fox broadcast standards officials to have gone too far.