Britain's Channel 4 said on Thursday it would air an upcoming episode of U.S. music comedy series "Glee" which featured a cover version of a song written by disgraced pop star Gary Glitter.
The cast of Glee, including actress Gwyneth Paltrow, is credited with the rendition of "Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah)," and the popularity of the series with U.S. audiences has seen the version reach no. 30 on the U.S. iTunes instant charts.
Paltrow performed the 1973 song, also covered by Joan Jett in 1982, during the Glee episode entitled "Sexy," aired in the United States earlier this week.
The song is included on the latest Glee album, and the British media has predicted that Glitter, who spent three years in a Vietnamese jail for child sex abuse, could earn significant royalty payments as a result of the record sales.
"The scene is editorially justified within the program and we do not seek to censor material in the proper context," said a spokeswoman for Channel 4, which will air the episode on its E4 channel toward the end of April.
Glitter, 66, enjoyed a string of hits in the 1970s and 80s including the songs "I Love You Love Me Love" and "I'm the Leader of the Gang."
Following his release from prison in Vietnam he returned to Britain in 2008 having left the country after being convicted in 1999 of downloading thousands of images of child pornography onto his personal computer.
His music is largely banished from the British airwaves.