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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Turkey censors "Imagine" lyrics on Olympics telecast

From Hurriyet Daily News:

A presenter for Turkish state broadcaster TRT omitted part of iconic British musician John Lennon's lyrics that call for “no religion” during the broadcasting of the Olympic Games’ closing ceremonies, NTV reported on its website.

One of Lennon’s most famous songs, “Imagine,” was included in the Aug. 12 ceremonies and was translated into Turkish by the TRT presenter as it played in the background.

The verses of the song which called for people to imagine a world with no countries and no reason to kill or die for were correctly translated into Turkish, but the presenter skipped the part where Lennon sang for "no religion."

The presenter translated the remainder of the lyrics correctly.

Reminds me of a classic episode of WKRP in Cincinnati from 1981: