Justin Timberlake’s racy new music video for his latest single “Tunnel Vision” has had a wild first week – first being banned by YouTube due to nudity, then reinstated after the nudity was deemed appropriate due to “artistic” reasons.
Timberlake premiered the video on July 3, with a warning. “Check out the new video for Tunnel Vision and be ready… it’s explicit. -teamJT,” Timberlake tweeted.
The video, which features naked women writhing around in a dark room with Timberlake’s face projected onto their chests, was taken off YouTube a few hours after it was posted because it allegedly did not conform to YouTube’s official content rules concerning nudity.
“Most nudity is not allowed, particularly if it is in a sexual context. Generally, if a video is intended to be sexually provocative, it is less likely to be acceptable for YouTube,” reads YouTube’s official Guideline Tips.
Soon after the video was taken down, however, it was reinstated by Google (who owns YouTube), after they deemed the nudity in the video ‘artistic content,’ and therefore an exception to the no nudity rule.
“While our guidelines generally prohibit nudity, we make exceptions when it is presented in an educational, documentary or artistic context, and take care to add appropriate warnings and age restrictions,” a Google spokesperson told ABC News.
Timberlake’s YouTube drama is no surprise, considering the popular video website recently banned Robin Thicke’s highly controversial explicit music video for his number one single, “Blurred Lines.” Unlike Timberlake’s video, Thicke’s was not deemed “artistic,” and the explicit version has been kept off YouTube. A censored version of the “Blurred Lines” music video is currently viewable on YouTube.
Timberlake, on the other hand, will not have to release a censored version, as a content warning now prefaces “Tunnel Vision,” and viewers must sign in and confirm their age before watching.
– Olivia Truffaut-Wong
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