Malaysian TV scrubs Madonna

Madonna’s performance was struck from Malaysia’s television broadcast of the Grammy Awards because her skimpy outfit and steamy dance moves were too risque for audiences in this Muslim-majority nation, a network official said Friday.

The Grammys aired Thursday night on Malaysia’s 8TV station, 12 hours after the show took place in the United States, but Malaysian fans were surprised when the show kicked off without the much-hyped opening act, Madonna and the cartoon-fronted rock group Gorillaz.

The rest of the telecast wasn’t censored, but Madonna’s barelegged leotard attire and sexy gyrations were “too much of a risk for us to take if we tried to show it,” said an 8TV official.

Television shows and movies screened in Malaysia must abide by a strict censorship code that forbids sex, graphic violence and provocative handling of topics such as race and religion.