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NEWS
03 January 2007

USA:
Censorship allegation increases media attention

The popular web sites iFilm and YouTube were claimed to have censored an anti-jihad music video from the rap metal group Stuck Mojo. As the censorship debate continued, it also increased media attention for the band

By Freemuse

Stuck Mojo is a controversial rap metal group from Atlanta, Georgia, in USA, with outspoken views on radical Islam and a strong support for the American armed forces.

Their video for the song ‘Open Season’ from their latest album was released on YouTube.com where it quickly became one of the most popular videos on the site. During the first 24 hours after it had been placed on the web site, the video alledgedly was seen by more than 18,000 viewers.

According to fans and bloggers, it was then apparently blocked from appearing in the "Most Viewed" listings on YouTube – despite its view count warranting it a spot on the list.

Webloggers started mentioning the word 'banned', and the news about the video spread quickly. Soon band leader and guitarist Rich Ward appeared as a guest on Fox News’ tv show “The Big Story with John Gibson” to discuss the video and band’s pro-American stance.

Jennifer Nielsen, Marketing Manager for YouTube, said that while the company does not wish to comment on individual videos, they guarantee that YouTube does not censor content. At the same time, the YouTube Community Guidelines clearly states that YouTube does not permit hate speech, and since the anti-Jihadist lyrics of the song could be heard as a call for violence against the Muslim minority in the US, it is a matter of opinion whether the music video falls under this category or not.


iFilm also accused

The web site iFilm.com has also been accused of censoring the video. As a response, an iFilm.com representative writes on the site:
“For the record, this video has been on our site every day since it was first uploaded on December 19th. We invited the band themselves to upload to us, which they did, so the claim that this was pulled from our site is categorically false.”





Click to watch video

Click to watch video
Stuck Mojo video: 'Open Season'

Sources

Pure Rock – knac.com – 27 December 2006:

'Stuck Mojo Banned Again for Anti-Jihadist Video'

House of the Ward – 14 December 2006:

'!ALERT! Is YouTube Censoring the Mojo Message?'

Stuck Mojo’s official web sites:

www.StuckMojo.us
myspace.com/stuckinthemojo

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