The Walt Disney Company censored an episode of "The Simpsons" that mentioned forced labor camps in China.
According to reports, the episode titled "One Angry Lisa" was removed from the library of the Disney+ streaming service in Hong Kong. It originally aired in the U.S. last October.
The censored episode features the character Marge Simpson riding an exercise bike. She is shown images of the Great Wall of China by her instructor Jesse. He remarks: "Behold the wonders of China: Bitcoin mines, forced labor camps where children make smartphones."
Now in its 34th season, "The Simpsons" came under the wing of Disney when it acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019. However, this was not the first episode the entertainment giant censored to appease Beijing.
In November 2021, the Daily Mail reported that Disney censored an episode from the show's 12th season that touched on the Tiananmen Square massacre. The episode titled "Goo Goo Gai Pan," featuring Marge's sister Selma trying to adopt an orphan in China, was first aired in March 2005. (Related: Disney cowers to China, omits "The Simpsons" episode featuring Tiananmen Square.)
In the course of her adoption journey, she stops at the eponymous square – the site of a brutal 1989 crackdown against pro-democracy protesters. A plaque at the square reads: "On this site, in 1989, nothing happened." This serves as the first nod to the incident, which is highly suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
It then shows Selma standing before a tank, the episode's second nod to the incident. The scene references the famous "Tank Man" photo, involving a male protester standing in front of a line of four tanks.
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The Mail added: "The episode also contains pointed comments about Tibet, where Beijing has been accused of religious oppression, and the Cultural Revolution, a devastating period of upheaval in the last decade of Mao Zedong's rule."
Disney censorship arose out of "concern" for mainland China business
Speaking to the Financial Times, associate professor Kenny Ng of Hong Kong Baptist University's Academy of Film explained Disney's move to censor "One Angry Lisa."
According to him, Disney might have proactively scrubbed the episode out of concern for its business in mainland China – which includes its theme parks. Disney operates two theme parks in the communist nation, one in Shanghai and another in Hong Kong.
"It could be strategic to eliminate any China-offending episodes," said Ng, because doing so had "more to do with the company's ties – current and future – in [the] mainland."
"China claims its slave labor camp is merely a 'poverty alleviation' program," Breitbart Senior Writer John Nolte pointed out. "No decent person believes that. The entire country of China is a slave state."
Nolte also mentioned how Disney sold out to China back in 2019 instead of standing up for freedom and democracy, values the protesters in Hong Kong that year fought for.
Sports network ESPN, which is majority-owned by Disney, warned journalists against discussing the relationship between the mainland and the special administrative region. The network's Senior News Director Chuck Salituro issued this warning via a memo to all staffers. He also noted that senior ESPN executives were monitoring all shows as they discussed the news of the day.
Salituro's warning followed a tweet by Daryl Morey, general manager of the NBA's Houston Rockets, expressing support toward Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. The tweet did not sit well with the CCP, leading to the professional league and its commissioner Adam Silver denouncing Morey.
Nolte ultimately remarked: "One reason Hollywood doesn't want to offend China's Nazis is because Hollywood respects and admires China's Nazis."
Watch this clip from "The Simpsons" predicting the mainstream media's involvement in a "plan-demic" below.
This video is from the Health Wise channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
A rundown of major U.S. corporate media's business ties to China.
Disney goes woke for Black Lives Matter – But kowtows to China's racism, concentration camps.
Double-faced Disney threatens pro-life state of Georgia yet ignores Chinese human rights abuses.
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