Normally, at the MTV Movie Awards they hand out a golden popcorn tub to the winners. This year, they unexpectedly got a moon man.
MTV has confirmed it has edited out a shot of Eminem's tuchis from Thursday's broadcast of its annual cinematic showdown.
In what many in attendance called the musical highlight of the ceremony, which was taped Saturday in Santa Monica, the superstar rapper, dressed in a parody of Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose (complete with red wig, blue jeans and codpiece), was performing with his band D12 when he dropped trou and mooned the audience.
Fresh off a political scolding over Janet Jackson's boob job at the Super Bowl halftime show, which MTV produced, the cable network decided to, in the words of one official, "edit around" Eminem's ass.
The network had initially considered simply blurring Eminem's backside, but then opted to excise the moment altogether. Now, viewers will get to see the performance sans the full moon.
(Guess we'll have to settle for the Venus transit).
Eminem's camp declined to comment. MTV had no official statement, either, but one rep said fans would have to tune in to see how the butt-baring is handled.
MTV is no stranger to pushing boundaries, be it Madonna's crotch-grabbing rendition of "Like a Virgin" 20 years ago at the Music Video Awards (in which winners receive the Moon Man trophy), the Material Girl's smooches with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at last year's VMAs, or Gollum's foul-mouthed acceptance speech at last year's Movie Awards.
Even without Eminem's exposure, the Lindsay Lohan-hosted 2004 MTV Movie Awards will retain some shock value. Among the bits not winding up on the cutting room floor: a spoof of The Passion of the Christ, a titillating liplock between Carmen Electra and Paris Hilton and the Wayans brothers grabbing Brittany Murphy's booty.
The ass-free version of the MTV Movie Awards airs Thursday at 9 p.m. (As reported by E! Online)
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