NBC censors Pamela Anderson video

Televisionpoint.com Team
Pamela Anderson and pole dancing proved too hot for NBC, which dropped a number featuring the actress in a sexy big-screen video from an Elton John special.

"Elton John: The Red Piano," a Las Vegas extravaganza taped at Caesars Palace, aired Monday night without the segment in which John sang "The Bitch is Back" while an oversized screen behind him displayed a scantily clad Anderson.

The actress moved suggestively around a dance pole in the number, which was included in preview copies sent out to critics. After an assessment by its standards and practices department the network decided the material didn't mesh with the time slot.

"We believed the content was not appropriate for 8 p.m.-7 central time and decided to pull the song from the special," NBC said in a statement Tuesday.

A call seeking comment from Anderson, who stars in the Fox sitcom "Stacked," was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Left intact were Elton John classics including "Daniel" and "Rocket Man," as well as another big-screen video that featured Justin Timberlake as a young Elton.

Pop star Timberlake is no stranger to TV controversy: He was part of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, in which her breast was briefly exposed when Timberlake yanked on her costume.