Justin Timberlake’s “Tunnel Vision” Video Will Stay On YouTube, Despite Nudity
Talk about blurred lines: Google has decided that YouTube will continue to host Justin Timberlake‘s rather NSFW “Tunnel Vision” video, despite guidelines that generally prohibit nudity. “[W]e 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 spokesman said to ABC News.
Timberlake’s hypnotizing (sorry) “Tunnel Vision” video, featuring female nudity and a fully clothed Timberlake, is now marked “(Explicit)” on YouTube and prompted by a warning that it can be “potentially offensive or inappropriate.” This new warning comes after YouTube banned the uncensored version of Robin Thicke‘s “Blurred Lines” video just days after its release, also thanks to its female 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,” the Google spokesman said to ABC. Google did not elaborate, though, on exactly how or why Timberlake’s “Tunnel Vision” video presented naked breasts in an “educational,” “documentary” or “artistic” context.
But as discussions revolving around Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” proved, these guidelines tend to be incredibly subjective anyway. “Blurred Lines” director Diane Martel thought the video achieved a role reversal of sorts. (“I wanted to deal with the misogynist, funny lyrics in a way where the girls were going to overpower the men,” she said in Grantland.) Meanwhile, Thicke didn’t.
“People say, ‘Hey, do you think this is degrading to women?’ I’m like, ‘Of course it is. What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman. I’ve never gotten to do that before. I’ve always respected women,'” the Blurred Lines singer said to GQ. (Apparently he was joking.)
Maybe YouTube just has tunnel vision about JT’s music.
Should Justin Timberlake’s “Tunnel Vision” video stay on YouTube? Let us know in the comments.
