Gary Glitter Song Banned at Super Bowl Over Rocker's Child Molestation
A song by former rock-and-roll star Gary Glitter has been banned from this year's Super Bowl over the singer's child molestation charges.
During the football game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, the Patriots allegedly planned on playing Glitter's song "Rock and Roll Part II" after each touchdown they scored. The team's plans caused outrage, due to Glitter being a convicted criminal.
In 1999, the British rock star, also known as Paul Gadd was found guilty of downloading over 4,000 pornographic images of children and subsequently sent to jail for four months. Glitter was also accused of having sex with an underage girl.
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To make matters worse, in March of 2006 the rock star was convicted of molesting two girls, ages 11 and 12, in Vietnam. He is on the sex offenders' register in the U.K.
After the backlash over "Rock and Roll Part II" erupted this week, the NFL promptly banned the song from the game.
The 1972 track by Glitter has been banned, but sports teams continue to use cover versions of it by other bands.
If the song had been permitted at Super Bowl XLVI Sunday, 67-year-old Glitter would have seen thousands of dollars in royalties each time it was played.
"No version of ["Rock and Roll Part II"] has been played at the Super Bowl since 2006. We are not playing the song on Sunday and never intended to," Brian McCarthy, president of the NFL, said in a statement Wednesday.
Additionally, Doug Williams at ESPN said that news sources misreported the Patriot's desire to use the song.
"The Patriots haven't used the song for years," said Williams, noting that the team has preferred "This is Our House" by Bon Jovi for the past few years.
Super Bowl XLVI will take place at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium in Indiana at 5:30 EST this Sunday.
