Justin Timberlake's music videos have always been a bit racy (see "Senorita," "Love Sex Magic" and "Sexy Back"), but his newest video for "Tunnel Vision" sets a new bar. Though news sites reported that the video full of topless women was pulled from YouTube, it will remain up on the service, ABC News has confirmed.
Before the video plays on Justin Timberlake's VEVO channel, YouTube users are presented with a explicit content warning that they must click on before playing the video.
While Google does not usually allow nudity in videos, a Google spokesperson told ABC News that the video is an exception.
"While our Guidelines generally prohibit nudity, we make exceptions when it is presented in an educational, documentary or artistic context, and take care to add appropriate warnings and age-restrictions," a Google spokesperson told ABC News on Friday morning.
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YouTube's guidelines state that "Most nudity is not allowed, particularly if it is in a sexual context. Generally if a video is intended to be sexually provocative, it is less likely to be acceptable for YouTube."
Google pulled Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" video in March because of female nudity. Google would not comment further on why the exception was made for the "Tunnel Vision" video.
Timberlake's video premiered on July 2 on the artist'sMySpace page. The artist and actor is one of the co-owners of the recently revamped social network, which focuses on connecting musicians with fans. It was put up on YouTube and Timberlake's official website on July 3. As of publishing this article, the racy video had over 1.1 million views on YouTube.
