The symbol, representing the Arabic word for god, was on the necklace of a man whom Katy Perry destroys by turning him into a shimmering pile of red sand. (Long story short: Perry portrays a souped-up version of Cleopatra whose ancient Egyptian charms turn men to dust, and cause a lot of tightly choreographed dancing among her cat-headed guards.)
No aspect of the video is in any way anti-Muslim. Nonetheless, a Change.org petition asking YouTube to remove the video entirely because of the "portrayal of blasphemy" gathered more than 65,000 signatures.
It's not clear whether YouTube or Katy Perry's team edited the video to remove the symbol from the necklace. (Hat-tip to The Jerusalem Post, where we found this story.)
Separately, YouTube was also recently ordered to remove all copies of the video "Innocence of Muslims" for copyright reasons.
Check out the before-and-after shot:
Here's the video: