ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Disney's Hong Kong service drops 'Simpsons' episode with 'forced labour' reference

In this Aug. 8, 2017, file photo, The Walt Disney Co. logo appears on a screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.  (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) In this Aug. 8, 2017, file photo, The Walt Disney Co. logo appears on a screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Share
HONG KONG -

Walt Disney Co. has cut an episode from the hit cartoon series "The Simpsons" that contains a reference to "forced labour camps" in China from its streaming service in Hong Kong, according to a check of the service.

The episode "One Angry Lisa," which first aired in October on television, is not available on the U.S. company's Disney Plus streaming service in Hong Kong, according to a check by Reuters.

The Financial Times first reported the absence of the episode.

Reuters was not able to establish when it was removed from the Hong Kong service and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the episode, the character Marge Simpson is shown images of China's Great Wall during an exercise class as her instructor says: “Behold the wonders of China. Bitcoin mines, forced labor camps where children make smartphones.â€

China denies any suggestion that forced labour occurs there.

Rights groups and Western governments have long accused Beijing of abuses against members of the mainly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority in the western region of Xinjiang, including the use of forced labor in internment camps.

In 2021, Disney removed an episode of "The Simpsons" that made a reference to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown when it first launched its Disney Plus service in Hong Kong.

The former British colony of Hong Kong has special freedoms under a "one country, two systems" formula agreed when it was handed back to China in 1997, but Hong Kong democracy campaigners say Beijing has over the years been eroding those freedoms. Beijing and Hong Kong's government deny that.

In 2021, Hong Kong's legislature passed a film censorship law to "safeguard national security" but officials said at the time that the law did not apply to streaming services.

The Hong Kong government said the film censorship law was aimed at content deemed to "endorse, support, glorify, encourage and incite activities that might endanger national security."

(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Robert Birsel)

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.

The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.