The famous cartoons were censored because they compared President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh and for sarcastically recounting the existing repression in the country's forced labor camps. The Houston Rockets coach expresses support for Hong Kong protests and NBA matches are censored, despite an official apology.
Beijing (AsiaNews) - The caustic producers of the cartoon "South Park" have released a funny apology to China, after their videos were censored for comparing President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh and for using sarcasm to describe the repression in the country's forced labor camps.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the authors of the cartoon, have released an "official statement" on Twitter which says: "Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look just like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China? "
The irony about the NBA has a reason: on October 4, coach Daryl Morey of the Houston Rockets had tweeted a sentence in support of the Hong Kong protests. Because of this, Chinese sponsors withdrew their support and Chinese television censored their games.
The company then backed off, issuing a public apology, but the Chinese boycott remained. Today, a game that was to be played in Shanghai was canceled a few hours earlier. The Chinese government is said to have demanded the cancellation of the event.
In the incriminated episode of "South Park", entitled "Band in China", the protagonist Randy Marsh is arrested, imprisoned and sent to a forced labor and re-education camp. The video shows torture suffered by Randy with the electroshock and execution of a prisoner, while everywhere there are posters praising "I am a proud member of the Communist Party" and "The Party is more important than the individual".
Imprisoned in a overcrowded cell, Randy also meets Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. In 2017 the cartoons and images of Winnie the Pooh were censored in China because many cybernauts compared the teddy bear to Xi Jinping. In the video, Piglet says: "Some people say that Pooh is like the Chinese president, so we are now illegal in China!"
At present, the videos of "South Park" cannot be found on Chinese search engines.