Chief censor bans heavy metal t-shirt of filth

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Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:00a.m.

A t-shirt advertising a British metal group's album has been banned in New Zealand.

Chief censor Bill Hastings says it is the most offensive piece of clothing he has ever seen, "because it fuses religion with the most aggressive, misogynistic word in the English language, with sexual activity depicted on the front that implies even celibate women can not resist sex".

The top has been deemed 'injurious to the public good' and capable of inciting religious hatred.

"It's illegal to possess it, it's illegal to deal with it in any way. Sell it, rent it, hire it, give it," says Mr Hastings.

The t-shirt advertises an album by extreme British metal group, Cradle of Filth. In Australia, a 16-year-old was arrested and charged with offensive behaviour for wearing it.

Here, a member of the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards brought it to the chief censor's attention.

"The language used is totally unacceptable, and it's always been regarded as obscene and whenever that word is used and directed at the founder of a belief system it's sure to cause grave offence," says David Lane.

But highly offensive language by itself is not enough to have a publication banned. In this case, it is the sexually explicit imagery on the front of the t-shirt combined with those words which has made it illegal.

Mr Hastings says while there is a chance to appeal the decision, so far no one has.

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Comments

26 Mar 2010 11:26p.m.

nazguz wrote:

...looks likes shes enjoying it...

05 Jan 2010 01:49a.m.

That guy wrote:

It's good cause Cradle of Filth suck anyway.

03 Jul 2008 11:58p.m.

Michael wrote:

I'm glad they banned it. I hope they ban the band from coming here as well.

03 Jul 2008 05:43p.m.

tina wrote:

Gee what next!! the T-shirt is not the the problem here!!! its who is gonna be wearing the T-shirt is the problem?? like we all know people will get there hands on it (namely teens) and guess what follows NEXT!!! you guessed it an all out bloody war!! THATS THE BIG PROBLEM HERE!!

03 Jul 2008 12:48p.m.

sam wrote:

Congratulations new zealand you have just lit a fire and it's only going to spread, the t-shirt is not hard to find and you are going to get more people wearing just to annoy people.

Why can christians wear crucifixes and jesus loving t-shirts, but as soon as a "metal head" wears a harmless t-shirt you get all up in arms about it. the whole country has become so politically correct that you cant even wear a t-shirt (even if you believe every word of it)

just so everyone knows the idiots who just killed this t-shirt have just killed any chances of and good metal band coming over/back to nz, i hope your happy


03 Jul 2008 12:13p.m.

Nick wrote:

"The top has been deemed 'injurious to the public good' and capable of inciting religious hatred"

I am not a big fan of COF either but come on. How Naive are some of NZ's more powerful people.
This is music and there is no concrete evidence EVER produced to show that music incites religious hatred,no matter how explicit or antichrist it is.
One should look back in history to discover the only real cause of 'inciting religious hatred' has stemmed from true religious followers, and religions themselves.
More focus needs to be put towards the thousands of impressionable 'wannabe gangsters' idolising heroes who openly claim to kill and shoot and stab, than this single item that has been blown out of proportion and no doubt occupied many important people and their time.
"See your souls dying for peace, welcome to the belly of the beast!"

03 Jul 2008 10:29a.m.

keegan purdy wrote:

is it that hard to report basic facts? the shirt doesnt advertise any album, a cursory glance on a website would be enough to know this. might seem trite but when you're dealing with personal liberties id suggest all facts no matter how small are important. anyway this thing is (knowingly) designed to insult. it took the powers that be long enough to act, i had this shirt when i was a teenager (im now 23) i've grown out of that phase, in fact its kind of ridiculous, but really...banning a tshirt. and check out his face, he cant even look at it. ITS JUST A TSHIRT. its 2008 time to evolve a little, yes?

03 Jul 2008 10:13a.m.

Nick wrote:

COF have been around and creating shirts depicting similar messages and graphics for as long as i can remember, is it banned because the truth hurts??? Why is OUR chief censor American?? Surely the damage done by this shirt is more prevalent, now that it has public interest. I agree with Sophie and feel this ban will do more to provoke than deter.
every one knows that JESUS SAVES!

03 Jul 2008 09:25a.m.

Jim wrote:

This world lost its morals years ago and now some bureaucrat waste of space is saying this is NOT OK. Why don't they ban Shortland Street as it openly promotes adultry and sex at the work place. Go metal heads

02 Jul 2008 11:38p.m.

Sophie wrote:

"with sexual activity depicted on the front that implies even celibate women can not resist sex".

...She's mastubating, not having sex? It's just a TAD different.

There are many, many ways to show how much you loathe a religion. You have just banned a pretty mild one. People will find other ways to show their disgust. Expect things to get much worse. ;)