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China Blocks HBO After John Oliver's Last Week Tonight Mockery of Xi Jinping (scmp.com)

Posted by msmash on from the not-for-the-faint-of-heart dept.

News agency AFP reports: After mocking censors working overtime to delete comparisons of Chinese President Xi Jinping with the cartoon bear, comedian John Oliver and now the website of TV giant HBO have fallen victim to Beijing's censorship machine. Chinese authorities blocked HBO's site in China, just days after Oliver took Xi to task, anti-censorship and monitoring group GreatFire.org said on Saturday. The website was still not accessible on Monday. HBO joins a long list of Western media outlets that have had their websites blocked in China including The New York Times, Facebook and Twitter.

6 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdot prepare to be banned. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood,
    Where Christopher Robin plays.
    You'll find the enchanted neighborhood,
    of Christopher's childhood days.
    A donkey named Eeyore is his friend.
    And Kanga and Little Roo.
    There's Rabbit and Piglet.
    And there's Owl.
    But most of all Winnie the Pooh!

    Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh,
    Chubby, little cubby all stuffed with fluff.
    He's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh,
    Willy, nilly, silly old bear.

  2. Smiles by apoc.famine · · Score: 5, Funny

    China just needs to grin and bear it.

    --
    Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  3. Missed out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You too can be a world leader if you stop maturing in grade school....

    sigh

  4. Re:And HBO blocks John Oliver in Canada... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What’s the point of airing a comedy show in a country where people can’t understand what a joke is?

  5. Re:And HBO blocks John Oliver in Canada... by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Funny

    The difference is that I wouldn't worry about mysteriously disappearing in Canada for using a VPN. In China you might find yourself "working" in a North Korea mine. To be fair, I have no evidence that China or North Korea would do this. I just have my suspensions.

    Yes, and John Oliver can mock Justin Trudeau as much as he wants and it'll be perfectly allowed. Our PM won't even have the audacity to call it fake news. He'd just take it like a Canadian and probably laugh. To be honest, most Canadians will probably laugh as well - we recognize attempts at humor, as long as it is in good taste (i.e., nothing about minorities, race, religion, sexual orientation or the like).

    (Yes, Trump's definition of "fake news" is basically "anything that does not show Donald in a positive light". If you're not ass-kissing, you're fake news. I think it's probably easier to say those outlets that Trump doesn't call Fake News are, and those he calls fake news aren't.)

    Maybe I'm not getting something... We get HBO in Canada... WITH John Oliver's show. http://www.hbocanada.com/last-...

    John Oliver's segments are often reposted officially on YouTube. Sometimes those videos are geolocked to not include Canada. Most of them aren't so you can watch them freely.

  6. Re: And HBO blocks John Oliver in Canada... by Mean+Variance · · Score: 3, Funny

    Let me fix all the grammer

    You were on a roll.