Censorship on MTV

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Censorship on MTV has been the subject of debate for years. MTV, the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., has come under criticism for being too politically correct and sensitive, censoring too much of their programming. MTV altered or removed shows from the channel's schedule and music videos were censored, moved to late-night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel.

Political correctness

MTV came under criticism for being too politically correct and sensitive when it came to censorship. This was most prevalent in the eventual decline of the hit show Jackass. The creators of Jackass often felt that MTV's producers did not let the show run its free course due to the excessive restraints placed on the Jackass team.

MTV's influence also affected its famous animated program, Beavis and Butt-head. In the wake of controversy that followed a child burning down his house after allegedly watching the show, "producers moved the show from its original 7 p.m. time slot to a late-night, 11 p.m. slot. Also, Beavis' tendency to flick a lighter and scream the word "fire" was removed from new episodes, and controversial scenes were removed from existing episodes before rebroadcast. Some of the edits were so extensive that when series creator Mike Judge compiled his Collection DVDs he found out that "some of those episodes may not even exist actually in their original form".

The Parents Television Council has argued that much of the censored material on MTV is easily discernible because of the context in which it is presented.

Religion and race

In the 1980s, parent-media watchdog groups such as the PMRC criticized MTV over certain music videos that were claimed to have explicit imagery of Satanism. MTV has developed a strict policy on refusal to air videos that may depict devil worship or anti-religious bigotry. This led MTV to ban the videos for "Jesus Christ Pose" by Soundgarden and "Megalomaniac" by Incubus.

Usually, all ethnic and racial slurs are censored on MTV music videos and programming. MTV has emphasized racial tolerance and diversity awareness for people of all races and creeds.

Censored music videos

MTV has also heavily edited a number of music videos to remove references in lyrics to drugs, sex, nudity, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia, or advertising, and completely edits out the swear words. MTV will also remove any content that is a concern to copyright holders. Examples of such edits have included:

• In the song "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston, the word "suicidal" was altered to "in denial".
• In Michael Jackson's single "They Don't Care About Us", MTV has replaced the words "Jew me" and "kike me" with "do me" and "strike me" in the line "Jew me, sue me... kick me, kike me; don't you black-or-white me". Jackson argued that the song used the words to describe prejudice and that it was poor judgment to select Jewish people as explanatory words.
• Express Yourself by N.W.A censored the words "I Have a Dream" (the words were not censored prior to 1993 when aired on YO! MTV Raps) when the group goes through the banner with the statement (this particular scene was based on the Shell Oil Company's 'Shell Answer Man' commercials during the early 1980s where an automobile drives through the banner with the closing 'Come to Shell for Answers') while Dr. Dre began rapping. It was N.W.A's the second video ever released on MTV, the other one was Straight Outta Compton which also brought controversial as they refused to play the video due to the profanity and violent lyrics on the song. An edited version of the song is featured on the video.
• Hawthorne Heights' song "Ohio Is for Lovers" has the word "cut" edited out in the lyrics "Cut my wrists and black my eyes, so I can fall asleep tonight."
• "This Love" by Maroon 5 had the words "coming" and "sinking" edited out of the lyrics due to possible content.
• The song "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance had the words "Gun", "Murder", "Shirt", and "Pay" censored because of the attack on Virginia Tech (in addition to the usual removal of profanities).
• When the music video for "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. was released on MTV, the word "weed" was removed from the second verse, and the gunshot sounds that are heard in the chorus were replaced with cash register sounds in order to remove references to murder. Also, the singer's vocals were edited to take away from the song's mature content. This angered M.I.A. greatly, and she publicly spoke out against the censorship of the song on her MySpace blog.
• "We Are All on Drugs" and "Hash Pipe" by Weezer have had censored versions in rotation on MTV. "We Are All on Drugs" had every lyric with the words 'on drugs' altered to 'in love'. This resulted in the lyrics not matching the words mouthed by the music video actors. Also, during part of the video, a newspaper was shown with the song title used as the headline. This was completely censored. Respectively, in "Hash Pipe", the word "hash" was removed. It became popularly alternatively known and introduced as "...pipe" or "halfpipe" on TRL although the censorship remained the same.
• The song "Hip Hop Is Dead" by Nas was censored when the lines "I'll put an extended clip inside of my AK" were changed to "I'll put an extended ... and ... 'em all day". The lines "murder the DJ" were also changed to "wreck the DJ".
• "45" by Shinedown was heavily edited to remove the lyrics "the barrel of a .45" and "ashes of another life" from the chorus, forcing the title card of the video to refer to the song by the MTV-originated title "Staring Down..." Singer Brent Smith later stated that he felt the editing was not only hypocritical in light of other unedited videos MTV played but that the editing blurred the message of the song and that if they did not wish to play the song as it was written, they should have refrained from playing it at all. Though the edited version of the video was aired a few times without the artists' consent, the song was eventually pulled from the airwaves. This censorship of the Shinedown song is especially perplexing, because, over a half-decade earlier, Depeche Mode's 1997 music video for the song "Barrel of a Gun" was not censored on music video chanels or radio; the similarly-worded chorus "I've been staring down the barrel of a gun" caused no concern or controversy for MTV (who frequently played the video in heavy rotation).
• "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot has the lyrics "dial 1-900" censored.
• "Who's Real" by Jadakiss has the word "eights" (referring to 28-inch tire rims) censored.
• "Cradle of Love" by Billy Idol - the first version aired on MTV had scenes from the Andrew Dice Clay film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane featured in the video - Clay's lifetime ban imposed by the network after his September 1989 appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards also prohibits airing all Clay-related media. The only exception to the rule is EMF's music video for the song Unbelievable where Clay's "oh!" exclamation was used throughout the song.
• "Guilty Conscience" by Eminem featuring Dr.Dre contains lyrics like "leave her on the front porch" and "slip this in her drink" that were censored out on MTV, as well as the murder at the end.
• "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" by Katy Perry has the words "ménage à trois" cut out completely without being replaced by other lyrics.
• Songs like "Your Love Is My Drug" by Kesha and "I Need a Doctor" by Dr. Dre have the words "crack" or "cracked" removed.
• "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People was edited to remove references to the song's subject daring people to "outrun my gun" and to run "faster than my bullet", which was misconstrued by some who had not heard the song previously as editing a profanity out rather than a weapons reference.

Videos moved to late-night or obscure rotation

To deal with criticism over risque content in certain videos, MTV moved certain videos to late-night rotation in censored format. Such videos included "If I Could Turn Back Time" by Cher and "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot.

In February 2004, following the controversial Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show produced by MTV in which performer Justin Timberlake caused the exposure of a breast of co-performer Janet Jackson, MTV made several efforts to limit daytime rotation of music videos that it felt had too much sexual content to be shown following the controversy. Such videos included "This Love" by Maroon 5, "Splash Waterfalls" by Ludacris, "The Jump Off" by Lil' Kim, "Toxic" by Britney Spears, "I Miss You" by Blink-182, "Salt Shaker" by Ying Yang Twins, and "Hotel" by Cassidy. Additionally, the video for "Megalomaniac" by Incubus was pushed back not because of sexual content but because of depictions of German leader Adolf Hitler and people drinking oil. Madonna's "Erotica" was aired on MTV only after midnight because of its sexual and dark scenes. In interview, Madonna said she agreed with MTV's attitude about the video: “I know that the themes I'm exploring in the video are not for children, so I understand that they can't play it earlier.” Also, the video for "Smack My Bitch Up" by The Prodigy was initially given late-night rotation on MTV's 120 Minutes due to a fistfight, sexual scenes and allegedly misogynistic language in the lyrics but was removed from rotation after one week, a decision supported by the feminist group National Organization for Women. The song "Étienne" by Guesch Patti was moved to late-night rotation in MTV Europe due to a striptease scene. The video "Prison Sex" by Tool was shown only on MTV's former rock-oriented digital cable channel MTVX due to sexual and violent content, but went on to be nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in 1995 for Best Special Effects. Alleged glorification of gun violence led MTV to show an edited version of the video "99 Problems" by Jay-Z only between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Only MTV2 would play the Public Enemy video "Gotta Give the Peeps What They Need" because it contained a line "free Mumia."

Banned music videos

From MTV in the United States

• "18 and Life" (Skid Row - banned since the mid-1990s since it made references to serving life imprisonment - especially after the passage of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act which includes the Federal Assault Weapons Ban)
• "45" (Shinedown, requested by the band itself)
• "A Tout Le Monde" (Megadeth)
• "Alejandro" (Lady Gaga) (aired on MTV Hits)
• "American Life" (Madonna) (replaced with a second version)
• "Amsterdam" (Van Halen) (Although the lyrics of drug use was edited out for the video, MTV still refused to show it)
• "Arise" (Sepultura)
• "Agenda Suicide" (The Faint)
• "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" (Twisted Sister)
• "Body Language" (Queen) (because of its content)
• "Cocoon" (Björk)
• "Coma White" (Marilyn Manson)
• "Constance" (Mr. J. Medeiros)
• "Erotica" (Madonna)
• "Ghost Ride It" (Mistah F.A.B.)
• "Girls, Girls, Girls" (Mötley Crüe) (replaced by a second version)
• "Girls On Film" (Duran Duran) (original version with female nudity)
• "Happiness in Slavery" (Nine Inch Nails)
• "Hey, Mister" (Custom)
• "Hot in the City" (Billy Idol)
• "Hurricane" (30 Seconds to Mars) (aired on MTV2, still heavily edited)
• "I'll Save You All My Kisses" (Dead or Alive)
• "In My Darkest Hour" (Megadeth)
• "Jesus Christ Pose" (Soundgarden)
• "Justify My Love" (Madonna)
• "Lacquer Head" (Primus)
• "Low" (Foo Fighters)
• "M&M's" (blink-182) (replaced with a second version)
• "Pagan Poetry" (Björk)
• "Prison Sex" (Tool)
• "Quote Unquote" (Mr. Bungle) (shown on MTV Two's 120 Metal Minutes)
• "Reckoning Day" (Megadeth)
• "S&M" (Rihanna)
• "(s)AINT" (Marilyn Manson)
• "Six, Six, Six" (DeGarmo and Key)
• "Smack My Bitch Up" (The Prodigy)
• "Sunshowers" (M.I.A.)
• "The Impaler" (Winds of Plague)
• "The Price of Beauty" (Suicide Silence)
• "Tonight (I'm Fuckin' You)" (Enrique Iglesias) [Including "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" - Clean Version of The Song]
• "Tormented Mind" (Burning Human)
• "Worlock" (Skinny Puppy) (Banned for copyright infringement and graphic violence)
• "What It Feels Like for a Girl" (Madonna)
• "Wild Night Tonight" (Skafish)
• "Wish You Were Here" (Incubus) (replaced by a second version)
• "War All the Time" (Thursday)
• "Nobody Knows Kelli" (Young Black Teenagers)
• "By The Time I Get To Arizona" (Public Enemy) - banned since January 1992 due to its reference of political assassination (the video featured a politican who dies of poisoning and where the Governor of Arizona is killed by a car bomb), in this case, the Governor of the State of Arizona for not recognizing Martin Luther King Day

From MTV in Europe

• "Bombs" (Faithless)
• "Bück dich" (Rammstein)
• "My Favourite Game (The Cardigans)

See also

• Censorship of music

References

• Nuzum, Eric (2001). Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America. HarperCollins. ISBN 0688167721 
• Williams, Casey (2005) (PDF). MTV Smut Peddlers: Targeting Kids with Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol. Parents Television Council. http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/mtv2005/MTV_Report.pdf