South Park banned in China but the makers don’t give a F *.
The most recent South Park episode, Band in China, angered the Chinese government by being critical of the way the country is run on several occasions. The Chinese government took no half measures, and immediately banned all South Park-related content.
If South Park is good at something, it is causing controversy. This time, they angered China by criticizing the Chinese government several times in the most recent South Park episode Band in China. According to The Hollywood Reporter, China has stepped in by banning and removing all content related to South Park, from the episodes to video clips and online forums. Better not make fun of China, buddy!
Where does this fierce reaction come from? In the Band in China episode, the character Randy Marsh leaves for China to sell weed, but before he can do so, he is arrested and put in a workers’ camp. Here he meets none other than Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. In case you don’t know, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been compared to Winnie the Pooh in many memes for years, which he is not very happy about (and neither is the Chinese president, it is rumored). This even went so far as to make it temporarily illegal to refer to Winnie the Pooh when it comes to Xi Jinping.
Continue with the episode, because in the meantime Stan, Jimmy, Kenny and Butters form a popular metal band, but when a film about this band is made, they have to adjust the script to get through the Chinese censorship.
“Now I know how Hollywood writers feel,” Stan says at one point as a Chinese guard looks over his shoulder as he works on the script. Disney is also being pissed off a number of times, including in a scene where Mickey Mouse appears to make sure his colleagues (other Marvel and Disney characters) deal well with the Chinese authorities.
What do South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone think about this? Well, they don’t give off *. They knew this was going to happen, and the fun pun in the name of the episode Band In China confirms that. On Twitter, they decided to respond to the ban in a sarcastic way:
Watch the full episode – https://t.co/[email protected] article – https://t.co/nXrtmnwCJBpic.twitter.com/Xj5a1yE2eL
– South Park (@SouthPark) October 7, 2019
The line about the NBA concerns a recent situation with Daryl Morey, the manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team, who sent out a pro-democratic tweet against the protests that have been going on in Hong Kong for weeks regarding the Chinese government.
This is of course not the first time, and most likely not the last time, that South Park has caused a stir. Since the first episode aired in 1997, this has been the aim of the series: to cause controversy and kick in the shins. South Park is therefore an excellent benchmark to see how ___ed humanity is.
In addition to the TV series, South Park also has a number of cool games. Watch the funniest moments in South Park here: The Fractured But Whole.
