Sexy Pam too hot for TV

2005-12-14 08:49

Los Angeles - 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 television special.

Elton John: The Red Piano, a Las Vegas extravaganza taped at Caesars Palace, aired on 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 20:00 central time and decided to pull the song from the special," NBC said in a statement on Tuesday.

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

- AP