July 21 (UPI) — The Malaysian government has a problem with the most-streamed song of all-time and will no longer play it on the radio.
“Despacito,” the mega-hit by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee — as well as a partial English version with Justin Bieber — has been far and away the song of the summer with all-day radio play and its recent record-breaking turn as the most-streamed song of all-time with 4.6 billion plays in three months since its April release. But the song’s lyrics, which talk about love and romance on the beaches of Puerto Rico is considered too risque for authorities in Malaysia.
Malaysia Communications Minister Salleh Said Keruak told CNNMoney that the lyrics were deemed not “suitable” after receiving numerous complaints about the song’s lyrics.
“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,” he said.
As a result, the state-owned broadcasting station stopped playing the song.
But playing the song online or on privately owned radio stations will still be allowed for now.
“Radio airwaves are but one of the many channels through which the public, especially the younger generation, hear those songs,” Salleh told Free Malaysia Today. “As such, we ask the radio stations to be sensitive to local norms and apply self-censorship of the song, be it by stopping the airplay or audio deleting part of the song.”
