Call for "Despacito" ban in Malaysia?
A female-centric Malaysian political party, Angkatan Wanita Amanah Nasional (AWAN) is demanding for the Spanish hit song, "Despacito" to be banned from all radio stations in Malaysia.
According to them, the song by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee and featuring Justin Bieber in the more popular remix version, should be banned from the airwaves due to its supposedly sexually explicit lyrics, reports The Star.
Atriza Umar, AWAN Arts and Culture chairperson is concerned that the song has been going viral in the country and many young children have been singing it without actually understanding the lyrics. She pointed out that the song had become a phenomenon in Malaysia because many local radio stations have been playing it on air constantly.
The chairperson hopes that "Despacito" as well as other songs with sexually explicit and violent lyrics that are not suited with the eastern and Islamic culture to be banned from playing.
"I regret that these problematic songs are not censored by the ministries responsible," she said in a statement.
"We respect the right to be entertained but there should be clearer guidelines so that the entertainment does not spoil people but makes them better," she added.
Released in January 2017, "Despacito" started to gain fame in many English-speaking countries after Justin Bieber sang a remix version of it.
The song received its two billionth views on 16 June, 154 days after the official music video was released on YouTube, making it the fastest video on the site to reach the milestone.
On Spotify, the remix version has over 600 million plays while the original fully-Spanish version has over 563 million plays.
The song is currently one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States.
