Google-owned video hosting site YouTube ordered Second City Network, the
popular comedy group, to censor one of its skits that showed lesbians
kissing.
Second City, the group that created the famous “Sassy Gay Friend,” devised the skit as a spoof on another video by “Bear” Vasquez that features a hiker’s enthusiastic commentary as he films a rainbow in Yosemite National Parl. Second City used the sound from that video in its parody, playing on the term “double rainbow” as a term for lesbians kissing.
In the video’s description, the group posts, “YouTube decided that two girls kissing is inappropriate, and flagged our video! So we uploaded a "CLEAN FOR YOUTUBE" censored version. If you think YouTube is Homophobic, leave a comment below!”
The uncensored version is still available on YouTube but requires that users sign in — a process that is tied to age verification from the account’s creation.
YouTube introduces its community guidelines by stating, “We're not asking for the kind of respect reserved for nuns, the elderly, and brain surgeons.” Its content regulations are to be expected: no pornography, drug use, gratuitous violence, copyrighted media, spam, etc.
The censorship of the "Double Rainbow" video is surprising given the nature of some of YouTube's other videos. A cursory search of “lesbian make out” yields seven pages of results, many of which are taken from published pornographic videos (a double violation of the guidelines). Some of these videos have view counts in the millions, and many do not require logging in.
The site’s process of removal is rooted in the viewers, who are asked to “flag” any video that may offend them and that violates the terms of use. After a video has been flagged, it is reviewed by YouTube staff, who “review flagged videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week to determine whether they violate our Community Guidelines.”
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