Guess Katy’s tune about streaking, skinny-dipping, and having three-way sex didn’t go over so well in Beijing.
Songs by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Beyoncé have been deemed a threat to China’s “national cultural security” and must be removed from downloading websites available to Chinese users in two weeks. The list largely consists of blacklisted melodies by Hong Kong and Taiwanese artists, but includes hits sung by American pop icons as well. If music downloading and streaming sites don’t purge the songs by Sept. 15, they will be punished, but it is unclear what the actual penalty entails.
(LIST: Top 10 Technology Bans)
Issued by China’s Ministry of Culture, this list is the third of its kind and part of the government’s pledge to “protect the country’s youth from ‘poor taste and vulgar content’ online,” ABC reported. The 100 songs were also never submitted for mandatory government screening, according to the Associated Press.
Unsurprisingly, six of Gaga’s songs, including “Born This Way” and “Judas,” are deemed unfit for Chinese ears, but oddly, so is the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” a seemingly innocuous hit that is more than a decade old.
Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls)” has also been banned, along with Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night,” the party anthem that references group sex.
MORE: Lady Gaga’s Album “Born This Way” No Longer Banned in China
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/15/lady-gaga%e2%80%99s-album-%e2%80%9cborn-this-way%e2%80%9d-no-longer-banned-in-china/#ixzz1WTXQf4Bb
Kai Ma is a TIME contributor. Find her on Twitter at @Kai_Ma or on Google+. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.