CHEW ON THIS: Is the Jim Rose...

CHEW ON THIS: Is the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow--the “Lollapalooza ‘92” attraction featuring performers who eat light bulbs and stick meat skewers through their faces--a victim of “Beavis and Butt-head” nervousness at MTV?

A source for American Recordings, which distributes a Sideshow video, says the label was told by MTV that a piece on the troupe taped for MTV News was canceled because it was “too imitatable”--a reference to recent allegations that a boy burned his sister to death after seeing cartoon characters Beavis and Butt-head playing with fire.

But Linda Alexander, vice president of corporate communications for MTV Networks, denies a link between the cancellation and the “Beavis” controversy. About the cancellation, she said, “We simply felt it was too graphic for our audience to air throughout the day in a normal MTV News rotation.”

That leaves Rose mystified. He says MTV showed even more graphic segments of his act while covering the “Lollapalooza” tour and that he has appeared without problems on such mainstream TV fare as Sally Jessy Raphael’s syndicated talk show.

“What we did for MTV was the sword swallowing and showing the tattooed man--the safe stuff, the stuff they told us was acceptable,” Rose tells Pop Eye. “I’m not picking a fight with MTV, but there’s somebody at the top there that’s turning it into ‘Sesame Street’ with a rock ‘n’ roll beat.”