A Perfume Genius ad has been rejected by YouTube on the ground that it is “not family safe.”
Perfume Genius often lingers on themes of sexuality and self-identity. So when the video for ‘Hood’ dropped recently – featuring Mike Hadreas embracing gay porn star Arpad Miklos – few fans batted an eyelid.
Coy and wryly humorous, the video for ‘Hood’ became a bit of a viral success – in part, due to the totally un-self-conscious way Perfume Genius tackled sexuality.
However when Matador attempted to use a portion of the video in an ad for Perfume Genius’ new album ‘Put Your Back N 2 It’ the label were shocked by the reaction. YouTube rejected the clip, sending the imprint the following message: (via Pitchfork)
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Any ads that contain non family safe material are disapproved. I noted to the team that the people in the video are not entirely unclothed, but the overall feeling of the video is one of a more adult nature, including promoting mature sexual themes and what appears to be nude content. As such, the video is non family safe. In order to have this video ad approved, you will need to bring it into compliance with our policy.
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While Mike Hadreas and Arpad Miklos are topless neither is nude in the video, which you can already watch in its entirety on YouTube.
Matador also notes that the ad for ‘Put Your Back N 2 It’ contained elements of the track ‘All Waters’ which finds Hadreas musing on “internalized homophobia” and being “self-conscious about gay (displays of affection).”
Watch the video for ‘Hood’ below…
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Perfume Genius is set to release ‘Put Your Back N 2 It’ on February 20th.
