YouTube has removed a newly released Sigur Rós music video from its website because of nudity. The Icelandic music television station Skífan TV will not broadcast the video during the day. Yesterday the video was released on the Sigur Rós website as well as YouTube, but now only remains on the band’s website.
“This is just typical,” Orri Páll Dýrason, the drummer of Sigur Rós explains to 24 Stundir. “We were expecting something like this. It seems to be okay to show scantily clad women spreading their legs as long as a little strip of cloth covers their crotch, not to mention the violence that is allowed to be shown. [This video] only shows a group of beautiful people frolicking. It’s innocence, not vulgarity.”
The video was made by Siggi Kjartans and Stefán Árni, based on the cover photo for the band’s new album, which was shot by American artist Ryan McGinley. McGinley is known for artistic depictions of nudity.
The video shows a group of young, naked people frolicking in a forest, by a lake and on a beach. No attempt is made to cover the people’s genitals, which violates the policy set out by YouTube as well as American television stations.
