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Several Chinese streaming platforms have been accused of censoring the gay plot of the popular American sitcom “Friends.”
Several Chinese streaming platforms have been accused of censoring plots such as homosexuality in the popular American sitcom “Friends.”
Earlier this week, the drama was re-broadcasted on Tencent, Bilibili, Sohu, iQiyi and Alibaba-owned Youku.
But Chinese fans complained that some scenes were removed, including those that mentioned lesbian characters, and another that featured same-sex kissing.
It’s unclear why the scenes were removed, and no platform has publicly responded to the allegations.
Friends, which ran from 1994 to 2004, is set in New York City and revolves around Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and a group of friends played by David Schaumont unfold.
“Friends” has a huge following in China, and many Chinese millennials have praised the show for teaching them English and introducing them to American culture.
Sohu owned the broadcast rights from 2012 to 2018 and aired uncensored full episodes at the time.
Chinese fans took to social media to share their disappointment that the film had been re-released and cut.
In one scene, the character Ross’ ex-wife left him after realizing she was gay, but the dialogue was deleted.
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Lady Gaga was banned from touring in China after meeting the Dalai Lama in 2016.
According to the South China Morning Post, there were also apparently erroneous subtitles in the play, which were used to downplay sexual topics. In one scene, “multiple organisms” translates to “women have endless gossip.”
“Not only does it ignore women’s sexuality and pleasure… (it) also reinforces gender stereotypes about women,” one user wrote on social media site Weibo.
Another user wrote: “If you can’t release the full version in your current environment, then don’t import.”
Some users called for a boycott of the show in protest.
Recently, “Friends has been deleted” has become a hot topic on Weibo. But on Sunday, searches for the topic and other variations yielded either zero or limited results, suggesting the discussions may have caught the attention of Chinese censors.
In recent years, China has shut down tens of thousands of websites and social media accounts containing “vulgar” and pornographic content, as well as other content deemed illegal or anti-China.
In the “Friends” reunion special that aired last year, images of Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and BTS were deleted.
It is unclear why they were removed, but they have all been previously accused of offending China. For example, Lady Gaga was banned from touring in China after meeting the Dalai Lama in 2016.
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Fight Club director David Fincher poses with actors Brad Pitt and Edward Norton at the 2009 Awards.
A few days ago, Chinese video sites have sparked discussions about censoring films.
The 1999 American black comedy film “Fight Club” (also translated as Fight Club, Fight Club) was censored and edited on China’s Tencent Video website, and the ending was changed to a major victory for the authorities.
This sparked strong international criticism, and Tencent later reverted to the film’s original ending.