Christina Aguilera's performance on The X Factor UK raises concerns - Herald Sun

Christina Aguilera's burlesque performance on 'The X Factor' was considered too sexually explicit by a UK watchdog. Source: news.com.au

CHRISTINA Aguilera's racy prime-time performance on The X Factor UK has attracted complaints.

According to Ofcom, the UK television standard's watchdog, the performance was "at the very margin of acceptability."

Aguilera, who was promoting her film Burlesque at the time of the performance in December, shocked viewers with her steamy dance routines during the talent show's finale, which was watched by at least one million children.

The US singer appeared on the program in a low-cut black dress, fishnet stockings and knee-high boots as she suggestively straddled a chair and writhed around on stage with lingerie-clad dancers.

The lurid display provoked 2,868 complaints, with many saying such content should not be seen in a "family show" and that the content was too "sexually explicit and inappropriate for the young audience."

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Rihanna's performance on the same night, in which she removed a dress to appear on stage in a bikini and fishnet stockings, was deemed appropriate for the time it was broadcast, Ofcom said.

But Ofcom said that Aguilera's routine was "at the very margin of acceptability for broadcast before 9:00pm" and said that it was inappropriate for UK broadcaster ITV to replay the scenes at 9:30am the next day.

The regulator asked ITV to attend a meeting to discuss the Aguilera routine.

"Broadcasters of programs that attract family audiences ... should recognise the potential for causing offense," Ofcom said, particularly for scenes that "contain clear sexual overtones."

"In these circumstances, broadcasters must take great care to provide appropriate protection for those audiences," it added.

Ofcom said the costumes worn by Aguilera and her dancers were justified in the context of the program.

"However, the overtly sexual nature of the burlesque-style routine of the dancers was ... nevertheless clearly capable of causing offense to some viewers," the watchdog said.

ITV claimed that burlesque routines were now "almost mainstream" and that it used different camera angles to try to prevent offense.

The controversy came as the show's creator, Simon Cowell, was preparing to take The X Factor to the US this year.