Disney has cut the episode from The Simpsons a cartoon showing a “forced labor camp” in China from a streaming platform in Hong Kong.
The episode, which first aired in October last year during the latest season, is not available on the Disney Plus streaming platform in Hong Kong, the Financial Times has learned.
This appears to be the second time that an episode of the show, produced by Disney-owned 20th Television Animation, has disappeared from the streaming platform.
A previous episode of The Simpsons which made reference to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre was removed from service in 2021.
Beijing enacted a sweeping national security law in the city in 2020, which bans broadly defined crimes including secession and subversion as part of a broad clampdown on political opposition and civil society.
Most recently The Simpsons The episode, entitled “One Angry Lisa”, features a scene in which Marge Simpson takes a virtual bike class and the instructor, through images of the Great Wall of China, says: “Look at the glory of China. Bitcoin mines, forced labor camps where children make smartphones.
China has faced allegations of abuses including forced labor against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in mass detention centers in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
A UN report last year accused Beijing of “serious human rights violations” that could amount to “crimes against humanity”. Beijing has denied allegations of rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Kenny Ng, an associate professor at the Film Academy at Hong Kong Baptist University who specializes in censorship, said Disney may have proactively removed the episode out of concern for business in mainland China, which includes theme parks.
The move “has more to do with the company’s relationship, both now and in the future, in mainland China”, Ng said. “It could be strategic to eliminate China’s troubling episodes.”
In response to a request for comment, the Hong Kong government said the film censorship regime introduced in 2021, which bans films endangering national security, “does not apply to streaming services”. A spokesperson did not comment on whether the government had approached Disney to remove the episode. Disney declined to comment.
This month, Disney will present two Marvel movies in China, the first to receive a distribution agreement in the mainland market starting in 2019.
The company was accused of self-censorship in 2021 when there was an episode of The Simpsonswhich satirizes Beijing’s repression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, has disappeared from Hong Kong’s Disney Plus streaming platform.
The episode, which was first broadcast in 2005, featured a visit to Tiananmen Square, where there was a large sign: “On this site, in 1989, nothing happened.” Homer Simpson also called former Chinese Communist party chairman Mao Zedong a “little angel” who killed millions.
Disney also drew criticism in 2020 for shooting scenes for a $200 million live-action remake. Mulan in Xinjiang.