It’s official: the Malaysian government has banned Despacito from playing on state TV channels and radio stations.
CNN reports that the surprising ban was announced on the same day Universal Music Latin Entertainment revealed that the chart-topping hit – performed by Puerto Rican duo Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi – is now the most-streamed song of all time with 4.6 billion plays.
According to the news source, Malaysia’s state-owned broadcaster RTM cited a plethora of complaints from the public about the song’s sexually explicit lyrics as the reason for the ban.
"The song was filled with numerous sexual references and innuendos and thus wholly inappropriate to be aired by our national media outlets for our general public, especially children," Communications Minister Salleh Said Keruak shared with the news outlet.
However, he also added that only public broadcasters are prohibited from playing the song, while "all other TV and radio stations are guided by their own evaluation processes."
So far, the decision has been warmly received by local netizens. However, many are skeptical about the reason given. Some pointed out that there are songs in English with even more risqué lyrics that are still airing in the country.
“Malaysia banning despacito because the lyrics are obscene when 90% of the people here don't even understand the lyrics. Lol,” Twitter user @Shafiqbeng wrote.
[Photo via Billboard]
