Chinese Censors Excise Gay Character From “Friends”

The South China Morning Post reports:

China’s censors have deleted multiple scenes and altered reference about a recurring lesbian character in the 1990s US television sitcom Friends, which has sparked outrage among the popular show’s large audience on the mainland.

That has practically buried the lesbian identity of recurring character Carol Willick in the first season of Friends, which major Chinese streaming video providers started airing online on Friday. The Willick character initially appeared in the show’s second episode.

Although one mention of the word “lesbian” was left uncut in the second episode of the show, the Chinese subtitles blatantly omitted it in translation. A scene of two male protagonists kissing on New Year’s Eve in episode 10 of the show was also deleted.

CNN reports:

Fans have taken to the Chinese social media site Weibo to protest censorship of the show, with #FriendsCensored becoming the most trending topic on the site.

The hashtag received more than 54 million views on the site on Friday night, but was later censored by the platform on Saturday morning, with search results showing, “this topic is not shown according to relevant laws and regulations.”

In 2016, China issued new guidelines saying television shows shouldn’t include story lines involving gay relationships, as well as other topics that “exaggerate the dark side of society.”

Major Chinese streaming platforms have censored an LGBTQ plotline in the popular TV series “Friends,” causing fans of the show to express their anger on social media https://t.co/qDCiWXWxzM

— CNN (@CNN) February 12, 2022