
South Park Responds to Being Banned in China for “Band in China” - thedudeabides5
https://twitter.com/SouthPark/status/1181273539799736320
======
toomanyrichies
Comedy 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-
majori...](https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/viacom-explores-sale-majority-
stake-china-channels-1203106962/)

[2] [https://www.wsj.com/articles/paramount-pictures-
gets-a-1-bil...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/paramount-pictures-
gets-a-1-billion-infusion-from-china-1484868302)

~~~
turk73
Self-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.

~~~
mac01021
What did Disney do with star wars to pander to asian audiences?

~~~
dagw
Gave an Asian actress in a minor role "too much" screen time. Apparently.

~~~
point78
That entire plot and her in ep 8 was pointless. Obvious pandering

~~~
mac01021
What show are we talking about?

------
sorenn111
I'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.

~~~
avinium
I'm amazed at how fresh they've stayed - testament to Matt and Trey I guess.
Most comedies are beating dead horses within 5 seasons.

~~~
jaimex2
You said it, todays top post on HN is Apple complying with the removal of
Taiwan from their OS.

~~~
rasz
Arent Apple chips manufactured in Taiwan? Would Wouldnt it be funny if TSMC
decided Apple doesnt exist?

~~~
majewsky
It doesn't matter if Apple exists as long as Apple's money exists.

------
rqs
I'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
What are you saying? What is your point?

~~~
bartread
I agree: GP reads like spun/machine-generated content.

~~~
rqs
"machine-generated" because my English mode still cold. I'm learning English
with RNN, it takes awhile.

~~~
bartread
I 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.

~~~
rqs
Actually, me should be the one who apologize.

Sometime I just somehow prioritized to send message out when I should be
making a better statement. Which already caused multiple misunderstandings on
HN alone. I should definitely try not to do that anymore.

------
guai888
"Autumn's sorghum harvest" sounds almost like "Autumn's organ harvest".......I
love South Park!!!

------
wei_jok
If 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/396572967928...](https://www.facebook.com/fighterstudiohk/videos/396572967928125/)

------
audessuscest
In 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...

~~~
boudin
That'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-
epis...](https://information.tv5monde.com/info/netflix-zappe-des-episodes-de-
south-park-en-france-325597) (in french)

~~~
audessuscest
Result 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
The 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.

~~~
audessuscest
it is _similar_ , that does not mean it's the same. Show me where to watch
these episodes in France now...(legally) Also, I'm sure it's pretty easy to
watch the censored episode in China... So yeah, very similar. Another example
in France is Soral who got one year jail for sharing a music video about Gilet
Jaune[1]. Whatever you think about him, it's what we can call political
repression.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxFchAvqwK4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxFchAvqwK4)

~~~
boudin
Now you're just saying pure bullshit. Soral is in jail for exactly
"provocation to discrimination, hatred or violence against Jews". Freedom of
speech doesn't remove any responsibility behind it. Looking at all the hate
speech and racists lies this guy have been spreading for years, it's even
surprising he avoided this kind of sentence before.

This is the result of more than 20 sentences since 2008, mostly for
"negationisme" (negating that the holocaust happened, which is not legal in
france), publishing antisemitic caricatures, hate speech and other things.

The list is available here, in french:
[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Soral#Condamnations](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Soral#Condamnations)

~~~
audessuscest
You're just lying, he's been condemned for sharing the video :
[https://www.nouvelobs.com/justice/20190919.OBS18677/alain-
so...](https://www.nouvelobs.com/justice/20190919.OBS18677/alain-soral-
condamne-a-18-mois-ferme-pour-un-clip-de-rap-antisemite.html) Video which btw
have nothing antisemite... but if you want to kill your dog, accuse him of
having rabies... Oh and it's not 1 year sorry, it's 18 months.

------
anm89
Is 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.

~~~
jaimex2
My 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.

------
sunkenvicar
Worth a click through. The full episode is available to watch for free.

~~~
kevcampb
"Due to copyright and other legal issues, this South Park episode cannot be
viewed in your Country"

So yes, banned in China (Hong Kong)

~~~
probably_wrong
Same in Germany, as it always has been.

~~~
ahartmetz
But you can watch it in German or English on their official German presence
southpark.de.

~~~
mAritz
Sadly, 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.

~~~
ahartmetz
Hm? The quality is just fine IME if you set it to high / HD / whatever.

~~~
mAritz
Maybe I'm just blind. I found a bunch of font settings, some color settings
(backgrounds etc.) and language. But no quality setting.

------
geomark
I 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
I'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?

------
ugurnot
One of the protest footage was actually from Turkey when they mention
excessive police brutality at China.

~~~
Miner49er
Not sure why you're being downvoted. You're right.

------
jaimex2
Such a good episode. South Park seems to get better with each season.

~~~
anm89
I 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
Thr 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.

~~~
jquery
Really? 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
I 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?

------
TYPE_FASTER
It’s a Randy episode? This I will have to see, it’s been a few years.

------
tim333
“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)

------
thinkingemote
Where 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
The 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.

------
bboygravity
Interesting. 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
No. There is simply too much personal risk for most people. Chinese censorship
works because it’s backed by an enormous stick.

~~~
bboygravity
Do 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
VPNs 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.

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pimmen
Does 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?

------
klausjensen
Their link shortener URL is a nice touch:

cart.mn

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rasz
>deleting virtually every clip, episode

BS, every Chinese pirate streaming service I checked still has full South Park
catalog.

~~~
pcr0
Are you in China? Perhaps it's only been removed for users in China.

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playing_colours
Greed, 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.

------
artur_makly
i 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
Unlike China, Americans make enough fun of themselves, and are not censored.

SNL is exactly what you're proposing.

~~~
sjwright
I want to love SNL but a lot of the current political skits are just cast
members mimicking news events mostly verbatim while pulling funny faces. (E.g.
The Kavenaugh hearings: “I like beer! I like beer!”) Or taking a serious
matter and turning it into mere farce. (E.g. current impeachment matters, with
Giuliani portrayed with all the wit of a Sesame Street puppet.)

~~~
jquery
The recent primary debate skit was pretty good. But... the Christmas Mueller
song was particularly egregious. They were better when Obama was in office,
IMO. Trump has ruined a lot of “news comedy” across the board. It’s too
predictable.

~~~
sjwright
Please, the debate skit was as bad as anything they've done. Cheap caricatures
of the media's caricatures of the candidates. The only redeeming aspect of the
skit were the cameo performances, particularly the portrayal of Harris—and
then only because Maya Rudolph is endlessly engaging to watch despite the weak
writing.

Look how they portrayed Andrew Yang. An unconventional candidate with near-
zero media attention consistently polling above O'Rourke, Klobushar, Castro
and Booker. Yet the joke is how poorly he's doing? It's noteworthy that the
audience _literally_ didn't laugh.

------
mommmukk
I 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
> 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-Chinese 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 for
the time being. What's surprising to me is how so many users, who I'm sure are
decent people, engage in that kind of thing.

We detached this subthread from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21188577](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21188577).

~~~
frequentnapper
what about bullies that bully bullies?

~~~
dang
It's a good question. The answer seems to me that they're equally at fault,
first because they're the same as what they're attacking, but also because
everyone who bullies feels that way. No one ever sees themselves as the
aggressor, so if you make an exception for bullies of bullies, you end up with
the status quo.

The solution is to be aware of our own aggression and contain it. That's a
long, slow process. I'm sure there is still aggression in what I wrote as
well.

------
nbabitskiy
Please 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?

~~~
scarmig
Everyone realizes it's counterproductive to overreact to any particular SP
parody.

Most people recognize SP as libertarian in general orientation, with a slight
liberal bias.

Neither Obama nor Trump has spent a second in office thinking about its
portrayal of them.

~~~
nbabitskiy
>> Everyone realizes it's counterproductive

Why? Because they'll fuck you up? How exactly? Im not asking about presidents'
personalities, what would their political friends think? To put it another
way, who watches SP, and is it some marginal minority?

~~~
scarmig
Streisand effect. If you shrug it off, only SP regular viewers will know about
the portrayal; if you react, everyone knows both that portrayal and that you
whined about it like a little baby.

Depends on age, mostly: older people on all sides of the spectrum find SP
crass. Younger people often think it's funny. You can find overwrought
editorials about how SP is problematic/written by cucks, as it offends people
on both sides on occasion.

I wouldn't say it's marginal, since everyone's at least heard of it. My
general impression is that it tends to be watched by young-to-middle age
college educated but middle class people, but you'd have to ask the studio to
get a solid demographic breakdown.

~~~
nbabitskiy
What does"college educated, but middle class" mean? Are college educated
people supposed to be heftier than middle class?

~~~
scarmig
Doctors don't watch it.

Twenty-something college-educated salesmen do. He smokes pot, isn't on
welfare, but will also work most of his life.

The intersection of class and education is too broad a topic to discuss in a
couple comments, but hopefully that gives you an idea.

