Hong Kong Disney+ Removes The Simpsons Episode Featuring Forced Internment Camp

Reporter’s 'Self-Censorship' in Depicting Xinjiang Uyghur Oppression
In 2021, Episodes About Tiananmen Protests Were Also Deleted

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] The episode of the animated series "The Simpsons" mentioning China's forced labor camps has been removed from the Hong Kong version of the U.S. online video service (OTT) Disney Plus.

On the 6th (local time), major foreign media including Bloomberg reported that the second episode of the latest season of "The Simpsons," titled "Angry Lisa," which was released in the U.S. last October, was deleted from Hong Kong Disney Plus. According to Bloomberg, the instructor teaching Marge Simpson indoor cycling remote lessons says in front of a backdrop of the Great Wall of China, "Behold the wonders of China: Bitcoin mines, forced labor camps where children make smartphones, romance."

This scene is interpreted as depicting the criticism by the U.S. and the United Nations that Chinese authorities have detained more than one million Muslim believers, including Uyghurs in Xinjiang, in forced labor camps. Chinese authorities have claimed that these facilities are vocational training centers. However, it is not known when this episode was removed.

Previously, in 2021, an episode of The Simpsons that mentioned China's Tiananmen democracy protests was also deleted. That episode included a scene where The Simpsons viewed the "mummy" of former Chinese President Mao Zedong, whose remains were embalmed and enshrined in the Tiananmen Square Memorial Hall in Beijing after his death in 1976. At that time, a signboard stating "Nothing happened here in 1989" was depicted as being erected in Tiananmen Square. There was also a scene reminiscent of the "Tank Man" photo symbolizing the Tiananmen democracy protests.

The content alludes to the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen democracy protests, where student-led civilian demonstrators demanding anti-corruption and reforms were violently suppressed by the People's Liberation Army, resulting in many casualties.

Bloomberg News pointed out, "Western companies are increasingly modifying content that could disrupt their business in major markets such as China," adding, "This kind of self-censorship has also appeared in Hong Kong since China enacted the Hong Kong National Security Law in 2020."