YouTube pulls clip of star losing her pants

Film clips of singer Yumiko Cheng Hei-yi's pants being accidentally pulled down during a television charity show have been removed from global video website YouTube after a legal letter to the site from Television Broadcasts Ltd (TVB).

The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority received 29 complaints about the show, in which Cheng lost her trousers during a trapeze stunt, exposing her skimpy thong.

All but two were about the comment made immediately afterwards by the show's host, comedian Eric Tsang Chi-wai, calling for a slow-motion replay. TVB also received six complaints about the remark, which critics said was insulting to women.

TVB external affairs assistant controller Tsang Sing-ming said the clips were removed soon after the letter was sent to YouTube, but they had already been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. One clip had more than 400,000 hits.

'It could be difficult when a website is not based in Hong Kong but we explained to them the segment belongs to a TVB production and had been uploaded without permission from copyright owner TVB,' said Mr Tsang. 'We are glad to hear that YouTube responded so quickly. It was bad for Yumiko.'

The Canto-pop singer was performing the stunt on Saturday night with veteran action choreographer Chin Ka-lok during TVB's annual Tung Wah Charity Show. She swung towards Chin, who tried to grab her legs but caught her trousers instead, pulling them down.