According to an article in the NY Times, the French government has banned promotional clips for Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” and Britney Spears’ “Work Bitch” from airing on any television network prior to 10:00 PM.
In 2005, the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel, which oversees all broadcast standards in France, ruled that “music videos that may offend the sensibilities of the young” are not to be shown before 10 PM. The most recent decision states that Cyrus’ and Spears’ two videos fall under the “offend the sensibilities of the young” category, thereby effectively removing the twerk from daytime and early evening programming.
Officially, the ruling stated that Miley Cyrus’ video contains “scenes of a sexual nature,” and that Spears’ video shows “a sadomasochistic universe” that is “likely to shock many viewers.” The promotional clips were originally shown with a warning, but, well, it wasn’t enough to shield French audiences from the horrors of twerking.
France is known to have particularly strict censorship laws. About a month ago, Bob Dylan was charged with hate-mongering in France after comparing Croats to Nazis in a French publication. These are violations of basic freedoms; freedoms that we often take for granted in our country. Still, you can’t blame the French government for trying to rid daytime television of some mediocre pop music.
Bottom line: If you want to twerk while the sun is shining, you’d better twerk in America.
-David Melamed, L4LM Staff Twerker