Europe News

Stripper to reduce cleavage at Eurovision song show

May 16, 2009, 11:36 GMT

Berlin - Dita von Teese, a US striptease artiste hired to gyrate during Germany's Eurovision song contest performance on Saturday night, has been ordered to show less cleavage, a German television supremo said.

News photos of the stripper, former name Heather Sweet, have shown her baring a full bosom during rehearsals for the German-entered number, Miss Kiss Kiss Bang, performed by US singer Oscar Loya.

Von Teese's diamante nipple warmers have dominated last-minute news coverage of the annual event, in which TV audiences all over Europe vote for the best pop song. It is being transmitted this year from Moscow.

Thomas Schreiber of ARD public television confirmed a report on Germany's Bild.de news website that she was ordered to 'show less of her bosom' after the European Broadcasting Union complained the number was not suitable for a family television show.

Frontal nudity is common on German television and on streetside advertising hoardings.

'The EBU told us we should take account of cultural differences between ourselves and other countries,' said Schreiber Saturday.

He insisted the striptease dance was not meant as the centrepiece of the performance by Germany, which has won the contest only once since the event was founded in 1956. Schreiber said she was merely intended to enhance the 'swing' style of the music.

The entry rates as German because its producer, Alex Christensen, is German.