China bans “South Park”
October 8, 2019 Andrew Buss News, South Park
Photo: Comedy Central
There have been many instances in the past of hearing about television shows that are big hits in America being cancelled or even banned over seas. This is in like with those classic cases.
South Park, a show famous for not pulling punches or leaving any target regarded as “too sacred to joke about”, has been completely erased in China after an episode that aired last week.
The episode in question? It is titled Band in China, and is a parody of media censorship in China and how American media compromises its productions to avoid an issue with it. It is like poking a beast, and China took the bait.
According to a piece in the New York Times. on Baidu Tieba, a popular website, searches for South Park are returned with the following. “According to the relevant law and regulation, this section is temporarily not open.” Similar responses are given on other platforms.
The episode was a commentary on a recent controversy going on with the NBA. Daryl Morey, the general manager for the Houston Rockets, tweeted out support last week for the Hong Kong protests, which are strongly dismissed by the Chinese government. The NBA, in turn, had not come to the support of Morey, leading most to believe it is as a result of their business ties in China.
Unlike NBA, we all know that South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker aren’t ones to shy away from making a statement, and a hilariously tongue and cheek one in that, upon their show being erased in China.
“Like the N.B.A., we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts,” the statement read. “We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look just like Winnie the Pooh at all.”
Stone and Parker then took to unabashed self promotion to further stick their tongue out at the Chinese government. “Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10,” the statement continued. “Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?'”
The Winnie The Pooh reference is, of course, referencing Winnie the Pooh also being slowly erased in China, due to becoming a symbol of resistance again China’s communist party and their leader, Xi Jinping. In a world where even the most wholesome character ever created by man is getting the boot, you start to realize that things have gone well past the realm of plausibility and have entered the world of downright ridiculousness.
