Chinese censorship has struck again, this time on a recent episode of The Simpsons that didn’t really go through with the authorities. In the latter, the animated series openly criticizes the country in its satirical tone. Today, the episode is no longer available on Disney+ in Hong Kong.
The Simpsons have always been known for their outspokenness. Over the years, everyone took it for their rank… but not everyone appreciated it. Today, the series paid the price after attacking the Chinese government. The second episode of season 34, entitled “One Angry Lisa”, is no longer available on Disney+ from Hong Kongwe learn from AFP.
A replica obviously hit the bull’s eye with the Beijing authorities. “Contemplate the marvels of China. Bitcoin mines, forced labor camps where children make smartphones, and romance”, can be heard during the episode. Necessarily, it stings.
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China censors an episode of The Simpsons on Disney+
Released last October, the sentence nevertheless fell this week. Disney+ has been ordered to remove the episode from its catalog in Hong Kong. A detail that did not go unnoticed. Indeed, China is, theoretically, not in its right to assert its authority in the matter on the territory. However, that didn’t stop him from doing it in the past, again for an episode of The Simpsons.
The first time happened 3 years ago. The episode in question also took place in China, more precisely in Tian’anmen Square, where there was a sign with the inscription: “On this site, in 1989, nothing happened”. Here again, the spade shook the government, which did not appreciate the reference to its violent repression of the demonstrations of the time.
Be that as it may, Beijing is not at its first attempt and the Simpsons are not the only ones to suffer its wrath. Last year, the series Friends had also been amputated of its many references to homosexuality, taboo subject in the Middle Kingdom.