LOS ANGELES (AP) - Eminem's moon has been eclipsed. MTV plans to cut a shot of the rapper exposing his rear end to the audience at the 2004 Movie Awards when the show is broadcast Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT, a network representative confirmed.

 

Eminem, who performed at the Saturday night taping with his group D12, appeared onstage dressed in a long red wig and jeans in a parody of Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose.

 

He repeatedly groped and flashed a studded codpiece in front of the cameras and the thousands of people in the live audience. Toward the end of the performance, he pulled down his trousers and flashed his bare backside at the audience.

 

Representatives for MTV, which was slammed for producing Janet Jackson's Super Bowl halftime performance, immediately said Eminem's act would be sanitized for broadcast, possibly by blurring out his backside. Ultimately, the producers chose to edit out his rear altogether, the network said Monday.

 

Eminem's representatives did not immediately return a call for comment.

Figures...