The 23rd season of South Park kicked off on 25 September with an episode focusing the topic of immigration in the US and the Joker film. That’s what South Park does, it takes controversial topics and pulls them apart with some dark humour and yes, against popular belief, some of the episodes really hold a message. With the latest episode which aired on 3 October entitled Band in China, South Park set its sights on the Chinese government and the hot topic of Winnie-the-Pooh being banned in China.
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Well, it turns out the Chinese government didn’t like the episode all the much and has reportedly banned anything South Park related, including discussion threads, video clips and everything both fan and official from the country. In the episode, Randy Marsh flies to China to sell his marijuana from Tegridy Farms but he is quickly imprisoned and even meets Winnie-the-Pooh in a forced labour camp.
Randy criticises the Chinese government’s censorship of free speech and you can see the creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker going hard on the sensitive topic, something that South Park has been known for. The second story going on in the episode also focuses on China, as the boys form a metal band only to get their script constantly changed as to not make China angry as their manager pushes for distribution in the country.
According to Hollywood Reporter, the creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, commented on the ban of the show in China, giving an “apology”. Check out the statement below.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#16EBD9″ class=”” size=”20″]Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the great Communist Party of China. May the autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful. We good now China?[/perfectpullquote]
The Band in China episode of South Park isn’t even the first time the show has made fun of the country as there was one where the Cartman was taken over by fear China would change their way of life and take over everything. However, the Band in China episode seemingly took things too far.
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Are you a fan of the show? What do you think about the Band in China episode and that South Park is reportedly banned in China now? Let us know in the comment section below.
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHSKnxU2ldw” width=”900″]
