BBC Radio 1 investigated after airing sweary version of Flume song

They royally messed up.
 By 
Elise Cooper
 on 
BBC Radio 1 investigated after airing sweary version of Flume song
Flume being a puppet master/DJ at Coachella 2016 Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella

Talk about a mess. BBC Radio 1 is in a bit of hot water -- and not the nice kind you fill a bath with of an evening while you bathe wearing your diamonds à la Mariah Carey.

U.K media watchdog Ofcom has launched an investigation into the national radio broadcaster after a remixed song by Australian artist Flume, "Never Be Like You," was aired featuring the word "f*cked" twice, The Guardian reported.

The Australian producer, whose real name is Harley Streten, started his DJ career with rudimentary sampling and remix experiments that garnered him a respectable online fanbase.


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This online community has been a constant driving force for his popularity. And of course, online censorship has less "hard and fast" rules when it comes to the sharing of content traditionally viewed as explicit.

The global popularity of "Never Be Like You" took the producer by surprise. Speaking with USA Today, Streten said that when he co-wrote it with Canadian artist Kai, he thought it was cool but never thought it would have such a big impact.

"I never really saw it being up in the charts in the States, which was a huge surprise. A lot of my fan base is online, so to have it picked up by radio stations is crazy," he said.

According to The Guardian, the Ofcom investigation comes after the station broadcasted a remix of the song during a late Saturday afternoon segment called Dance Anthems last month. A spokesperson for Ofcom said the organisation is "investigating whether a live broadcast of a song breached our rules regarding offensive language."

The official radio edit of the song replaces "f*cked" up with "messed up."

What should the repercussions be when traditional media shares content from the online community? After all, censorship and the internet don't always go together too smoothly.

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Elise Cooper

Previous Watercooler Web Culture Intern - Sydney Australia // misc burden on society

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