List of songs censored or banned in Malaysia

The following is a list of songs censored or banned in Malaysia at one stage or another, considered unsuitable for broadcasting on its radio and television stations since 2010 (though by no means this is a complete list). The censors are mostly done by Malaysian format radio network Astro Radio (which controls popular radio stations such as Hitz.FM and Mix FM) and Astro hitz (formerly known as Hitz.TV). MTV Asia, like almost other foreign channels on Astro, is also delayed by 1 hour in Malaysia for censorship purpose. In addition, singles released to Malaysian radio stations may be different from the version released in the album due to censorship purpose.

Censorship of music also applies to other radio and television stations (such as Red FM and Fly FM), but the censoring method is different from Astro radio and television networks because Astro radio has a stricter form of censorship than other radio station in Malaysia.

Songs being censored

The following list of songs and music videos censored or banned by Malaysia since 2010. Most songs have the same censoring like in the US.

Year	Song title	Performer	Reason for censoring
1999	Absolutely Everybody	Vanessa Amorosi	The single and music video are both banned in Malaysia due to strong violence, horror and indigenous/aboriginal content in the music video with Amorosi performing in front of the green screen.
2000	Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)	Spiller featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor	The single and music video is banned due to strong violence and horror content before the end of the song and clip.
2003	American Life	Madonna	The original music video is banned due to strong violence and horror and very course language content. The lyrics consisted of "Fuck it." The replaced music video was used with Madonna performing in front of the green screen with flags from different countries.
2009	Lovegame	Lady Gaga	The words "sex" and "ass" are censored. The music video is released with the word and some of the sexual scenes censored on Astro Hitz.
2009	Bad Romance	Lady Gaga	The word "bitch" is censored. The music video is released with the word censored on Astro Hitz.
2009	Imma Be Rocking That Body	The Black Eyed Peas	The song uses the US censored version for music video and airplay.
2010	Telephone	Lady Gaga	The music video is banned in Malaysia due to some explicit content in the music video.
2010	Not Afraid	Eminem	Profanity in both the song and the music video on Astro.Hitz is censored.
2010	California Gurls	Katy Perry	The words "sex" and "ass" are censored during the airplay and the music video is banned in Malaysia due to some nudity content. The word "gin" is only censored on Hitz.fm.
2010	Love the Way You Lie	Eminem featuring Rihanna	The word "fucking" is censored and some of the scenes in the music video are censored.
2010	Alejandro	Lady Gaga	The word "Jameson" is censored and the music video is banned in Malaysia due to some religious content.
2010	Teenage Dream	Katy Perry	The song is passed without cuts made but the music video is heavily censored due to the moderate sex scenes in the music video.
2010	We'll Be Alright	Travie McCoy	The word "fuck" is censored in both the song and the music video. Additionally, a scene showing the performer giving the finger is censored in the music video. The word "drunk" is only censored on Hitz.fm and Astro Hitz.
2010	Misery	Maroon 5	The song is passed without cuts but some of the scenes in the UK version of the music video are censored.
2010	We R Who We R	Kesha	The word "Jesus" is censored during airplay on some radio stations but the music video has its audio intact.
2010	Fuck You	Cee Lo Green	An alternative clean version (Forget You) is used for both airplay and music video.[1]
2011	Like a G6	Far East Movement	A scene which shows some alcoholic drinks on the table is censored in the music video.
2011	Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)	Enrique Iglesias	An alternative clean version (Tonight I'm Lovin' You) is used for both airplay and music video. However, the official clean version of the music video is still heavily censored by Astro.Hitz.[2]
2011	I Just Had Sex	The Lonely Island featuring Akon	Both the song and the music video are banned in Malaysia.
2011	Firework	Katy Perry	The song is passed without cuts but a gay kissing scene is censored in the music video.
2011	What the Hell	Avril Lavigne	The song is passed without cuts but a scene which shows the performer showing her middle finger is censored in the music video.
2011	Fuckin' Perfect	Pink	An alternative clean version (Perfect) is used for both airplay and music video. However, a scene showing a girl cutting herself is censored.[3] The word "beer" is censored on Hitz.fm.
2011	Born This Way	Lady Gaga	The line "gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life" is removed from the song and replaced with the repetition of the words "no matter" for three times. The music video is banned in Malaysia. The censor is applied to "Born This Way (Country Road Version)" too.[4][5] Some radio station only censor the word "gay", "bi" and "lesbian" instead of the whole line.
2011	E.T.	Katy Perry	The song is passed without cuts but the scene showing the buttocks of the E.T. showed in the music video is censored.
2011	S&M	Rihanna	Both the song and the music video are banned in Malaysia. However, this only applies to Hitz.FM and Astro Hitz. The song is still played with some parts censored.[6]
2011	Feat (壮举)	Hins Cheung	The quick gasping sound in the song was censored in both song and music video (presumably the sound related to sex) .
2011	Judas	Lady Gaga	At first, the song can be played as usual with the words "dead", "hooker", "prostitute", "condom", "Jesus" censored in local radio stations. However, the song was later banned indefinitely followed by the banning of official music video due to some religious content.[7]
2011	The Lazy Song	Bruno Mars	The word "sex" was censored during the airplay but the music video has its audio intact.
2011	Party Rock Anthem	LMFAO	The song is passed without cuts but a scene showing a man who portrays Jesus dancing on the street is censored.
2011	This Is War	Thirty Seconds to Mars	A scene in the music video with pariah was censored (presumably to avoid racial tensions).
2011	Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)	Katy Perry	The phrase "Menage a trois", which means household of three in French, is censored by reversing the audio. However, the censoring so far is only applied to Hitz.FM and Astro.Hitz. For the music video, two scenes are censored. One scene shows a photo on Katy Perry's laptop where Katy Perry is in bed with a man and another scene shows a man touching Katy Perry's buttock.
2011	Smile	Avril Lavigne	The words "bitch", "shit" and "fucking" are censored both during airplay and in the music video on Astro.Hitz. In fact, an official clean version of the song is available but surprisingly it has not been adopted.
2011	Bow Chicka Wow Wow	Mike Posner	A scene which shows some alcoholic drinks on the table is censored in the music video.
2011	I Need a Doctor	Dr. Dre	Vulgar words were censored in both the song and the music video.
2011	Till The World Ends	Britney Spears	The music video has not been aired on Astro Hitz so far for reasons unknown. However, the song is passed by censor during the airplay.
2011	I Wanna Go	Britney Spears	The song is passed without cuts for airing. For the music video, two scenes are censored. One scene shows Britney answering nicely for the few first questions from the paparazzi, but then proceeds to continuously say "Fuck you" to them and another scene showing Britney touching her fan's buttocks.
2011	Don't Wanna Go Home	Jason Derulo	The word "bitch" was censored in both the song and the music video.
2011	The Edge of Glory	Lady Gaga	Banned due to strong violence and very course language.
2011	You and I	Lady Gaga	The music video is partially censored due to some explicit content while the song during airplay has the words "whiskey" and "Jesus" censored.
2011	Hush	Magic Power(魔幻力量) featuring Della Ding(丁當)	The song is banned in Malaysia due to some sexual references.
2011	Rain Over Me	Pitbull featuring Marc Anthony	The word "bullshit" was censored in both the song and the music video.
2011	In the Dark	Dev	The word "sex" was censored in both the song and the music video, which is also censored on the official radio edit version.
2011	I'm on One	DJ Khaled featuring Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne	The word "fuck" was censored in both the song and the music video.
2011	Cheers (Drink to That)	Rihanna	The word "bastards" was censored in both the song and the music video with Avril Lavigne singing I'm With You.
2011	It Girl	Jason Derulo	The whole line of "Baby you're my shhh girl" is replaced by another line of "Baby you got me whipped girl" for both music video and airplay.
2011	Wish You Were Here	Avril Lavigne	The word "shit" was censored in both the song and the music video.
2011	Criminal	Britney Spears	Some sex scenes were censored in the music video but the song has its audio intact during the airplay.
2011	It Will Rain	Bruno Mars	The word "morphine" was censored in both the song and the music video.
2012	Marry the Night	Lady Gaga	Some scenes from the music video were banned, then later removed from YouTube's VEVO page.
2012	Ass Back Home	Gym Class Heroes featuring Neon Hitch	An alternative clean version of the song, "Get Yourself Back Home" are used for both airplay and music video.
2012	Turn Me On	David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj	The music video is apparently banned in Malaysia. In the one-hour delay broadcast of MTV Asia in Malaysia, the music video was censored and left 5 to 10 seconds left to be aired.
2012	You Da One	Rihanna	Some scenes showing the singer rubbing her groin were apparently censored along with the word "niggas".
2012	Give Me All Your Luvin'	Madonna featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.	The word "shit" was censored in both the song and the music video and two cheerleaders kissing is censored.
2012	Payphone	Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa	An alternative clean version of this song is used.
2012	Starships	Nicki Minaj	The music video was heavily censored in the delayed version of MTV Asia in Malaysia.
2012	Locked Out of Heaven	Bruno Mars	The word "sex" is censored on airplay but the music video has its audio intact. The word "sinner" is only censored on Hitz fm.
2013	Thrift Shop	Macklemore and Ryan Lewis	An official clean version was used for both music video and airplay.
2013	C'mon	Kesha	The words "wine" and "Budweiser" are censored on Hitz.fm and Astro Hitz.
2013	Here's to Never Growing Up	Avril Lavigne	The words "ass" and "fuck" are censored in the clean version for airplay and music video. In addition, the word "drunk" is censored on Hitz.fm and Astro Hitz.
2013	I Love It	Icona Pop featuring Charli XCX	The official clean version is used on airplay, resulting in the replacement of "shit" to "stuff" and "bitch" to "chick".
2013	Timber	Pitbull featuring Kesha	The line "bras and thongs" is censored on Hitz.fm.
2013	Can't Hold Us	Macklemore and Ryan Lewis	The word "shit" is censored and replaced by sound effects on airplay and music video.
2013	Talk Dirty	Jason Derulo featuring 2 Chainz	The official clean version was used on airplay and music video, but it is heavily censored on Hitz.fm.
2013	Swine	Lady Gaga	The song unknowingly played on Hitz FM but is banned in Malaysia due to the name being in reference of a pig.
2014	Drunk in Love	Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z	An official clean version was used with the word "liquor", "sex", "breastases" censored on radio stations. This song did not air on Hitz fm.
2014	Partition	Beyoncé	An official clean version was used with the words "horny", "wine" and "sexe"(sex in French) censored on radio stations. This song did not air on Hitz fm.
2014	Sing	Ed Sheeran	The words "smoke", "tequila" and "drunk" are censored on Hitz fm.
2014	G.U.Y.	Lady Gaga	The word "sexes" was censored on airplay. However, this song did not air on Hitz fm.
2014	Black Widow	Iggy Azalea featuring Rita Ora	The line "Praise Jesus Hallelujah" was censored on Hitz fm, the censorship is also applied to Hollywood Hamilton's Weekend Top 30. Other radio stations like Fly FM censors the word "Jesus". Initially, the word "Jesus" was not censored on Fly FM until the music video released despite the music video doesn't contain religious material.
2014	Wiggle	Jason Derulo featuring Snoop Dogg	The word "butt" is censored on airplay but the music video has its audio intact.
2014	Bang Bang	Jessie J featuring Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj	The word "cocking" is censored on airplay but the music video has its audio intact.
2014	Stay with Me	Sam Smith	Hitz fm censors the phrase "one-night stand" on Hollywood Hamilton's Weekend Top 30.
2014	Anaconda	Nicki Minaj	The word "butt" was heavily censored on airplay. The word "sex" (from "sex appeal") was censored on Hitz fm.
2014	Habits	Tove Lo	The word "sex" (from "sex clubs") is censored on airplay.
2014	Don't	Ed Sheeran	The words "gin" and "sex" are both censored, but this censoring only applies to Astro-owned radios like Hitz fm.
2014	Uptown Funk	Mark Ronson	The words "liquor" and "bitch" were censored on airplay but the music video has its audio intact.
2014	Break the Rules	Charli XCX	The word "bitch" is censored on Hitz fm.
2014	Burnin' Up	Jessie J	The word "sex" is censored on airplay.
2014	Take Me to Church	Hozier	The song is banned on Astro-owned radio like Hitz fm due to religious content. The ban is applied to Hollywood Hamilton's Weekend Top 30 too.
2015	Talking Body	Tove Lo	The word "drunk" from "daydrunk" is censored in Hitz fm.
2015	Good for You	Selena Gomez	Some of the scenes in the music video are censored.
2016	7 Years	Lukas Graham	The word "herb" and "liquor" was censored.

See also

• Censorship in Malaysia
• List of films banned in Malaysia

References

1. "Cee Lo Green – Forget You (Clean Version)".
2. "Enrique Iglesias – Tonight (I'm Lovin' You) (Clean Version)".
3. "P!nk – Perfect (Clean Version)".
4. "Lady GaGa's 'Born This Way' Censored In Malaysia".
5. "Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' censored in Malaysia over 'pro-gay' lyrics". NME. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011. Radio operators say homosexuality is still 'taboo' in the country
6. "Rihanna's 'S&M' Video Restricted By YouTube, Banned In 11 Countries".
7. "Banned in Lebanon! Lady Gaga's Born This Way album barred from stores amid religious firestorm". Daily Mail (London). 6 June 2011.