Has Madonna gone too far?

What is it about her “Justify My Love” video that’s got MTV so cautious? Sure, it has insinuations of group sex, bisexuality and nudity, but that’s just clean fun to Madonna—a tactic to sell records.

So Madonna appeared on Nightline Monday night to defend her art, not to mention taking advantage of a wonderful marketing tool.

Despite MTV’s refusal to air her new video, Nightline did, giving the viewing audience one lingering flirtatious look at what Madonna considers a lesson on open communication about sex.

But if Nightline can show the video, it seems like MTV could follow suit and show it during late-night viewing hours or with a warning label.

While people who saw the steamy video will argue that it was either acceptable or too much for MTV viewers, the deeper question hinges on the rock station’s hypocrisy.

Wasn’t MTV the station that banded rock stars together to fight against censorship by voting? (Even though they overestimated the intelligence of the viewing audience and created confusion among those who thought there would be an actual vote on censorship.)

Wasn’t Madonna one of those crusaders who supported the censorship cause, decked out in red lingerie and the American flag?

MTV apparently didn’t mind airing those slightly scandalous spots, but they took a surprisingly conservative stance and let a network take the lead airing the video.

And they didn’t mind selling those “Censorship is Un-American” T-shirts, although now MTV execs might have to reconsider how liberal and avant-garde they really are since Madonna has suddenly become too hot to handle.

The whole situation is not unlike the flurry of unrest several years ago over George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” song and video.

By directly addressing sex between consenting adults, even the most wildly popular musicians are squelched, while other artists are given free reign to portray “violence, humiliation and degradation,” in Madonna’s words.

“Let’s not be hypocrites about this,” she defensively said on Nightline. If MTV refuses to show “Justify My Love,” how can they defend showing less explicit, yet more degrading videos.

One video Madonna mentioned was Sam Kinison’s “Wild Thing,” where Jessica Hahn, the former church secretary done wrong by Jim Bakker, rolls around a wrestling mat encircled by a group of leering rock stars.

While Madonna’s video is far from virginal, it doesn’t show scenes of humiliation, but rather a woman having a good time sharing her secret thoughts.

Other MTV videos don’t take such an open-minded approach, but seem to show women as entertainment objects, not participants.

For example, Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible” video focuses on an army of mini-skirted, look-alike models who have the same detached, bored look. Occasionally the camera zooms in on a cleavage or thigh shot, as if they were not really human, but specimens of ideal anatomical parts.

The issue isn’t if Madonna can justify her video, but if MTV can justify its hypocrisy.