The British Broadcasting Corp. on Friday said shots of George Michael’s backing musicians wearing anti-war T-shirts will likely be cut from a television show.
Michael performed a cover of Don McLean’s anti-war song “The Grave” on BBC’s music show “Top of the Pops” on Thursday. His cellists wore T-shirts with the logo “No war, Blair out” – referring to Prime Minister Tony Blair.
A BBC official said shots of the cellists’ T-shirts violate the broadcaster’s policy of impartiality and suggested they would probably be edited out of the show when it is aired Friday.
“We have to conform to BBC policy guidelines and if people are wearing T-shirts that say ‘Sack the prime minister,’ that doesn’t look exactly like the BBC’s being impartial,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
BBC denied media reports that George Michael was wearing one of the anti-war T-shirts and was asked to take it off.
Friday’s show is the first time Michael has appeared on Top of the Pops since 1986, when he gave one of his last performances with the pop duo Wham!
