The ban was imposed due to the lyrics to four songs from the musician’s new album.
Four tracks from the new album 4X2=8 by popular South Korean singer Psy were banned by the national public broadcaster. According the broadcaster, the lyrics to the songs “New Face” and “Bomb” were found too vulgar for television.
The lyrics to “I Luv It” wasn’t found inappropriate, but the song was banned because the lyrics in the bridge to the chorus sound like curse words. Another song, “Auto Reverse”, was classified as an ad because it mentions a particular brand, Korea Joongang Daily reports.
The broadcaster’s decision is not expected to hit the rapper and his music hard. Many of his songs are widely popular both in Korea and abroad. Music videos for new songs by “Gangnam Style’s” author gain huge numbers of views on YouTube.
It’s not the first time when Psy’s songs have faced censorship in South Korea. The music video for his single “Gentleman” was banned in 2013 because it showed the singer kicking a traffic cone at the beginning of the video, which was classified as damaging public property.
Freemuse, a human rights organisation that protects artistic freedom, notes that regulations for content remain vague in South Korea. It allows officials to censor any work that may be deemed too sexual, controversial, political or generally against public morale.
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