If censorship in China ever seemed like a problem distant from the United States borders, that isn’t the case anymore — a growing concern “South Park” deftly addressed in the Season 23 episode “Band in China.” The episode specifically takes aim at the impact of censorship under the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on American companies and media. Although freedom of speech is considered fundamental to the American way of life, more companies have been shaping their content to avoid bans in China and not risk losing out on all that money. In 2016, the PRC released a set of extensive new guidelines for movie content allowed in China banning, among other things, “overt admiration for Western lifestyles,” “hedonism,” and “putting stars, billionaires or Internet celebrities on pedestals.” According to CNN, the list of banned items also includes celebrity kids, time travel, smoking, cleavage, tattoos, men’s earrings, and South Koreans.
Tired of the China-friendly caving on free speech, “South Park” hit back hard with “Band in China,” which features a host of American brands kowtowing to Xi Jinping’s demands in pursuit of a payday. Heavily laden with Chinese contraband like Winnie the Pooh and the Dalai Lama, the episode was deemed so offensive by China’s censors that it got “South Park” permanently banned from the nation and scrubbed from the Chinese Internet.
