Hong Kong’s Simpsons fans won’t see the irreverent American family make fun of Chinese censorship after Disney beat Beijing to it by pulling a 16-year-old episode that might have displeased the mainland dictatorship.
Local media in Hong Kong reports that “Goo Goo Gai Pan,” an episode during the Simpson’s 16th season in 2005, cannot be accessed in the area. The episode features the Simpsons traveling to Beijing and references Tiananmen Square with a sign stating that “nothing happened” there in 1989.
The Simpsons once visited Tiananmen Square in Beijing, to see first-hand the place where nothing happened in 1989. pic.twitter.com/xn81MJ7rPZ
— Andrew McLaughlin (@McAndrew) June 4, 2014
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The events in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, featured a student uprising that was put down with lethal force and drew international ire. It also became the origin of the famous “tank man” photograph, featuring a young man standing defiantly before several Chinese tanks.
The Chinese government has heavily censored the incident, and it is estimated that the majority of Chinese citizens are not aware of the event.
That has not stopped residents of Hong Kong from upholding the memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Several residents of the once-British colony have maintained museums and vigils for the incident despite police cracking down on such gatherings.
Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997, when it was returned to Chinese rule under a “one country, two systems” governance policy which allowed Hong Kong limited independence from Chinese intervention.
Chinese authorities from Beijing have begun cracking down on that limited independence, claiming it has “comprehensive jurisdiction” over the territory. This includes the censorship of media that is critical of the Chinese government.
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While streaming platforms are not included in the most recent film censorship amendment adopted by Hong Kong, China’s National Security Law allows the Chinese government to censor anything it interprets as “terrorism, subversion, secession, and collusion with foreign forces.”
Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.
