News

‘South Park’ creators don’t cave like NBA, deliver China stinging mock apology

October 8, 2019 | | Print Article
Screengrab Comedy Central

‘South Park’ creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker responded like you’d expect them to after China deleted all online evidence of the show over an episode on censorship in the communist country.

They offered a mock apology on Monday.

The episode, “Band in China,” was focused on how Hollywood bends to the wishes of Chinese government censors and Beijing wasn’t pleased, booting South Park from all Chinese streaming services and social media.

This coming amid the controversy over the NBA effectively surrendering to China by issuing an apology following a pro-Hong Kong tweet from Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey.

The Chinese government had canceled an NBA Cares event scheduled for Tuesday in Shanghai after the tweet and announced that its state media apparatus would no longer air preseason NBA games.

“Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts,” Stone and Parker said in the mock apology. “We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode the Wednesday at 10 p.m. Long live the great Communist Party of China. May the autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful. We good now China?”

With Chinese markets opening up more and more for the entertainment industry, the quest to keep from offending strict communist government guidelines shows that the almighty dollar reigns supreme.

 (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Hulu)

As the Hollywood Reporter noted, China’s authoritarian government “has even been known to aggressively censor “Winnie the Pooh” because some local internet users had affectionately taken to comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping to the character.”

In the “Band in China” episode, Randy gets caught trying to sell in China and gets sent to a work camp — where he encounters an imprisoned Winnie the Pooh.

Prior to the “apology,” the South Park creators tweeted Sunday: “You gotta lower your ideals of freedom if you wanna suck on the warm teat of China.”

The controversy involving China has certainly done plenty to draw more attention to the Comedy Central show, and social media users were in their corner.

Here’s a sampling of responses from Twitter:

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

$10
$15
$25
$50
Other
$
Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Tom Tillison
Latest posts by Tom Tillison (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles