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South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China”
- sunkenvicar 7y agoWorth a click through. The full episode is available to watch for free.
- OJFord 7y agoNot in 'UK and Ireland' though, just FYI anyone (t)here following advice to click through.
- kevcampb 7y ago"Due to copyright and other legal issues, this South Park episode cannot be viewed in your Country" So yes, banned in China (Hong Kong)
- godelski 7y agoIs it just this episode or all episodes?
- gsq 7y agoall episodes. search "south park" or "南方公园"(south park in Chinese) on video website of China, you got nothing.
- blago 7y agoSame message in Vietnam. I don't think it has anything to do with the ban.
- wlll 7y agoYeah, not available in the UK or ireland either.
- probably_wrong 7y agoSame in Germany, as it always has been.
- ahartmetz 7y agoBut you can watch it in German or English on their official German presence southpark.de.
- mAritz 7y agoSadly, the video quality there isn't quite what I would get from pirated versions - to put it mildly. And considering that cartoon style videos don't even need much bandwidth for good quality to begin with, this seems really weird.
- cwkoss 7y agohttps://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=396572967928125 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=396572967928125
- skybrian 7y agoWell, free but with lots of ads, like network TV.
- iamaelephant 7y agoNot in New Zealand either.
- big_chungus 7y agoIt wouldn't load for me, even after dis-abling my ad blocker. You can download it with youtube-dl, however, and view it that way.
- sorenn111 7y agoI'm amazed at how South Park after 23 seasons can make me laugh out loud repeatedly while combining classic south parkisms with hilarious satire of current events. I'm a big south park fan and these 2 episodes so far have been on point.
- hsavit1 7y agoTrey and Matt manage to stay relevant in ways that other shows can't. I appreciate their work.
- tmh88j 7y agoI think a lot of it has to do with their control of the brand and subsequently the distribution, which they even acknowledged in the most recent episode. Stan was writing a movie script while a Chinese govt official was looking over his shoulder and scratching out work that he didn't approve of and eventually shredded the paper, which Stan responded with "Now I know how all the writers in Hollywood feel."
- avinium 7y agoI'm amazed at how fresh they've stayed - testament to Matt and Trey I guess. Most comedies are beating dead horses within 5 seasons.
- ugurnot 7y agoOne of the protest footage was actually from Turkey when they mention excessive police brutality at China.
- Miner49er 7y agoNot sure why you're being downvoted. You're right.
- artur_makly 7y agoi wonder if China has copied SP and if so how they would portray the USA. Has anything been made like this? And is it just as funny?
- yumraj 7y agoUnlike China, Americans make enough fun of themselves, and are not censored. SNL is exactly what you're proposing.
- artur_makly 7y agoI grew up watching SNL when Eddie Murphy was playing Buckwheat.. but that’s not the same as a real comedic attempt by a foreign power at satirizing us -;) there must be something online...
- giancarlostoro 7y agoMaybe Russia will do it. I heard they have a 1:1 rip off of the Big Bang Theory. You can YouTube it, it looks obscure.
- i_am_nomad 7y agoIn the name of all that is holy, why would anyone rip off that show? It is literally the worst thing I have ever seen on television, excluding reality TV. And I say that as someone who grew up during TV’s dismal 1980s.
- mrep 7y ago> In the name of all that is holy, why would anyone rip off that show? It is literally the worst thing I have ever seen on television While I have never seen the show, 10-20 million people apparently watch it [0] so apparently a lot of people do like it and your tone comes off as condescending. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory#U.S._standard_ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory#U.S._stand...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- jaimex2 7y agoSuch a good episode. South Park seems to get better with each season.
- anm89 7y agoI don't know if I'd go that far. I'd argue South Park was at its peak for the first 10 seasons. This episode was awesome but there has been quite a bit of junk between now and then. Obviously just my opinion though.
- giancarlostoro 7y agoThr 2016 elections season was so darn good. Thats just my opinion as well. It became my favorite. I was never watching South Park like others did as it airs. I think shows like South Park you should have breaks on and then watch an episode or two on Hulu cause over time it does get tiresome. I can binge Family Guy and South Park but a lot gets lost compared to savoring it over time. Watched a lot of classic movies thanks to obscure Family Guy references.
- thrower123 7y agoThose are some of the worst episodes. Except maybe the Jakovasaur one... They had built things up too much assuming a particular outcome, and when reality didn't pan out, they had to scramble to try to salvage something remotely coherent. They mostly did not succeed.
- jquery 7y agoReally? Wasn’t that the season that was a total mess because it was written assuming Hillary would win (which seemed overwhelmingly likely at the time)? And then they had to quickly change everything? If anything I’d say that season was one of their biggest missteps.
- giancarlostoro 7y agoI have heard it doesnt take a whole lot of time for them to produce new episodes. Also I thought it parodied everybody pretty well. I didnt get the hint it was going the other direction to be honest. Was the season aired way later or something?
- rqs 7y agoI'm not a South Park fan, but that ban got my interested so I watched the episode (Yeah, that episode is banned in China and few "reposter"s has been warned for posting South Park related contents). Few days ago, a guy been sent to jail for 7 days because he was complaining the National Day military parade, saying something like "A civilized nation turn machine into soldier; a rouge nation turn soldier into machine". And he's not the only one been sent to jail for similar reason. This country is not taking any critic any more. Cultural Revolution 2.0 Global Edition anybody? https://twitter.com/ytchui_M/status/1181289272466231296 https://twitter.com/ytchui_M/status/1181289272466231296
- product50 7y agoWhat are you saying? What is your point?
- bartread 7y agoI agree: GP reads like spun/machine-generated content.
- AFascistWorld 7y agoHe's not native speaker.
- rqs 7y ago"machine-generated" because my English mode still cold. I'm learning English with RNN, it takes awhile.
- hdfbdtbcdg 7y agoYour English is fine. You could work a little on plurals vs singular forms of nouns if you want to present yourself as a native speaker. But your post was very understandable.
- bartread 7y agoI apologise: that remark was unfair and out of line. I was over-tired and jumped to a conclusion. Thanks also for the clarification: now I understand what you were saying.
- nbabitskiy 7y agoPlease explain like I'm five. What's the social status of SP in the USA? E.g. what do Chomsky, Obama, Trump, Chelsea Clinton, Fox news think about it? How come there are no rage firings because of it?
- c3534l 7y agoPeople are used to it and don't care about it anymore.
- nbabitskiy 7y agoBut what do they feel? What Trump and Obama feel about SP? For example, in Russia everybody would (hypothetically) laugh their asses out, but the creators would be promptly sued, because reasons, and won't proceed.
- giggles_giggles 7y agoNobody gives a crap what Trump or Obama feels about it, it's in the cultural domain and it's none of their business
- zenexer 7y agoThere’s nothing they could reasonably be sued for here. Parody, satire, and political commentary are largely protected. Our TV programming regularly criticizes and ridicules our own country’s politicians.
- anm89 7y agoSouth Park was pretty nice to Obama overall and he had a decent ability to take a joke so I'm guessing he liked it. I assure you Trump does not like South Park. But at the end of the day it doesn't matter what they think. There would be huge outrage if a President tried to silence a satirical show. They wouldn't be able to get away with it.
- nbabitskiy 7y ago
- TYPE_FASTER 7y agoIt’s a Randy episode? This I will have to see, it’s been a few years.
- anm89 7y agoIs it fair to assume that this is all of comedy Central giving China the finger as well as just the south park team? I would imagine China would take this up to the producers? And I imagine Comedy Central is directly involved in the production/funding? If so that's a pretty awesome and hold move on their part. I could see this leading to other shows feeling compelled to choose a side as well. I hope it does.
- hkai 7y agoOn the other hand, it's also easy to give them the finger when you don't have billions at stake.
- AFascistWorld 7y agoI assume the GM of the Rockets felt he have to do something after he saw his player in this episode.
- jaimex2 7y agoMy understanding is South Park create the episode on the fly and deliver it to Comedy Central hours before airing it. They don't get any time to review it.
- geomark 7y agoI tried to watch the episode. It's not blocked here in Thailand, but the site throws up a "Due to copyright and other issues...blah blah blah...targets for US audiences...blah blah blah. So what's with that?
- kennywinker 7y agoI'm in canada - same here. I can go to the channel that has the rights to broadcast south park in canada and watch it there (much.com) - maybe you can do the same?
- guai888 7y ago"Autumn's sorghum harvest" sounds almost like "Autumn's organ harvest".......I love South Park!!!
- wei_jok 7y agoIf you cannot watch the episode (due to copyright issues with various countries), here is a link to the "Band in China" on facebook (note that it has been subbed in traditional Chinese): https://www.facebook.com/fighterstudiohk/videos/396572967928125/ https://www.facebook.com/fighterstudiohk/videos/396572967928...
- toomanyrichies 7y agoComedy Central is owned by Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures. China is a huge market for Paramount's films. Paramount has previously explored a 49% sale to China's Wanda Group, and they currently have extensive financial backing from the Shanghai Film Group Corp.[2] If they wanted to, it's well within the purview of the CCP to apply pressure to Paramount's ability to finance its films or distribute those films in China (a huge source of international box office receipts), until such time as Paramount reigns in Trey and Matt. Note that I wouldn't support such a move, and they strike me as the type of creators who would happily walk away from their cash cow rather than self-censor. I just mean this is one possible endgame. [1] https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/viacom-explores-sale-majority-stake-china-channels-1203106962/ https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/viacom-explores-sale-majori... [2] https://www.wsj.com/articles/paramount-pictures-gets-a-1-billion-infusion-from-china-1484868302 https://www.wsj.com/articles/paramount-pictures-gets-a-1-bil...
- SmirkingRevenge 7y agoInteresting corporate taxonomy there. On the other hand, if China is willing to cancel something as big as the NBA at the drop of a hat (or tweet, as it were), it really highlights the risks of doing business with China in a very stark way. Nothing is to big to fail if you offend the party. You operate at their whims. Transgress, and its lights out. Too many of these kinds of reactions could backfire (one would hope).
- Florin_Andrei 7y agoI thought all that was common knowledge.
- atroche 7y agoFWIW I hadn't heard of the NBA thing until this. Maybe because I'm Australian and the NBA isn't as huge a deal here.
- turk73 7y agoSelf-censorship is still censorship. If these companies crater to the least common denominator, then free speech in the West is also doomed. We can't allow that to happen. Putting profits ahead of everything else is a sure way to go broke because it sacrifices quality and every other good for the sake of short-term profit. We saw Disney do this with Star Wars, trying to pander to Asian audiences and failing miserably. Now Disney has alienated their original fan base. Soon, nobody is going to care about anything Star Wars. Disney needs to smarten up. Every company that thinks they can do business with communists needs to smarten up. Realize that you compromise your ethics completely and whatever short term gains you think you are making are eventually eaten away by the sheer clown world lunacy that is communism. Places like China can never right themselves simply because basic truths are banned from being discussed. How do they then move forward as a society? They don't, they can only move backwards.
- mommmukk 7y agoI wonder at what point would corporations consider it a risk too big. Any comment can trigger the Chinese, it’s hard to gauge what they find insulting, since according to them all their neighbors and the west has humiliated them in the past. The volatility to the bottom line jsut isn’t worth it.
- dang 7y ago> Any comment can trigger the Chinese Not only the Chinese, I assure you. Nationalistic flamebait like this is a bannable offense on HN—not to mention racial/national slurs. The users who upvoted and (later) vouched for this comment have abused this site by doing so. People routinely accuse us of being somehow pro-China or secret communists for moderating HN this way, but that's not true at all. We don't like bullies or mobs, and any time that dynamic springs up here—which unfortunately is all the time, this being the internet—we instinctively take the opposite side. What's surprising to me is how so many users, who I'm sure are decent people, engage in that kind of thing. I know it's largely a matter of their background but users with the opposite background also belong here, and deserve better. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21188577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21188577.
- BubRoss 7y agoRelax, he was clearly talking about the Chinese government, not Chinese people in general.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y agoI think we need to be really clear when we talk about these things. When we write “the Chinese” there is bound to be at least some subset of readers who see that and assume the write meant all Chinese. I don’t believe we can be certain of the writers intent until the writer makes it clear.
- thrwy_01 7y agoEven if the writers clearly make this distinction, Chinese people, driven by Chinese propaganda, will often conflate the two. Indeed, Chinese people, even in a non political context will sometimes treat a comment about a single Chinese individual as a statement about all Chinese people.
- klausjensen 7y agoTheir link shortener URL is a nice touch: cart.mn
- pimmen 7y agoDoes anyone know if Trey and Matt own the IP? What's preventing them from walking away from Comedy Central if the channel kowtows to China and just distribute it online?
- bboygravity 7y agoInteresting. I haven't watched South Park in ages. The only reason I'm going to watch this episode is because China banned it. I wonder if it works like that for people who live in China. Is it something Chinese people often do (specifically seek out banned stuff)?
- jquery 7y agoNo. There is simply too much personal risk for most people. Chinese censorship works because it’s backed by an enormous stick.
- bboygravity 7y agoDo you say this as a person living in China or as a person observing China from the outside? All of my Chinese friends when traveling to China use VPNs and other tricks in China and watch Youtube and all of that other Western stuff. It seems to be the norm among young (educated) people there.
- unicornfinder 7y agoVPNs are getting increasingly difficult to use there as the great firewall becomes more effective. It wouldn't surprise me if most people don't bother anymore.
- rangibaby 7y ago> The only reason I'm going to watch this episode is because China banned it. Streisand effect!
- audessuscest 7y agoIn France, there's 10 Southpark episodes censored, and no one cares. Also in France, repression against Gilet Jaunes was way more intense and there was less coverage, even on social medias...
- paganel 7y agoBecause Macron is one of “our guys”. Also, the way the recent Rouen chemical accident got treated by the people in charge and by the mainstream media there is a joke, had this happened in a country like China or Russia the international media would have rightfully been up in arms. These types of double standards really make our liberal/democratic society weaker and prone to populist attacks and even wins from within our own ranks, no need for a Russian or Chinese invasion or cyber-war.
- boudin 7y agoThat's not really the situation about South Park, Netflix chose to not make those episodes not available, there is no censorship from the CSA. Nerflix claim that those episodes were censored originally was false as those were broadcasted on Gameone. The only thing that happened then is that the channel got a warning that (for 2 of those) the episodes should have been broadcasted after 22 and rated +12 due to the content. https://information.tv5monde.com/info/netflix-zappe-des-episodes-de-south-park-en-france-325597 https://information.tv5monde.com/info/netflix-zappe-des-epis... (in french)
- audessuscest 7y agoResult is very similar, which is all that matters. In a way it's even worse, because they pretend to be a free country and shit (while doing repression even more violently than chinese or russian governements). China at least is not pretending that.
- boudin 7y agoThe result is absolutly not similar since there is no censorship at all. This is even the oposite since those epsiodes are available... If you're not happy with Netflix deciding to filter what's available, just stop using netflix.
- rasz 7y ago>deleting virtually every clip, episode BS, every Chinese pirate streaming service I checked still has full South Park catalog.
- pcr0 7y agoAre you in China? Perhaps it's only been removed for users in China.
- thinkingemote 7y agoWhere are the usual users saying "it's a private company, they can do what they want. It's not censorship."? Are those usual users we hear on this platform when companies like Facebook or Google or Reddit or etc censor people and ideas silent in this case or are they being hypocrites?
- WilliamEdward 7y agoThe question is, why are they doing it? You'd have to be naive to think that the authoritarian grip China has on everything is not the exact reason the episode is being censored. Contrast this to banning someone for saying bad words on a forum - that's not even remotely the same issue and I shouldn't have to explain why.
- kthejoker2 7y agoI don't understand this comment. The result of this episode was the government of China banned the episode. That's censorship. What am I missing?
- nabdab 7y agoAre you under the impression that South Park censored their own show in China? I can assure you that no-one would claim that China is a private company.
- playing_colours 7y agoGreed, comfort, and fear vs. courage and embracing consequences. China seems to be a good test for our foundations and principles: democracy, freedom of speech and opinion on the one hand, and capitalism, profit of shareholders, fear of losing a job or losing a market or a supplier on the other hand. Apple, Blizzard, NBA, South Park, ... There will be more, and, unfortunately, we prefer money over virtue.
- tim333 7y ago“Band in China” on youtube in case anyone wants to catch up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsAuSBfAfW4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsAuSBfAfW4