After a Biting Episode, China Wipes South Park Off Internet

After a South Park episode suggesting that Hollywood studios have to please China or risk being censored, China has registered its displeasure by—of all things—censoring South Park. Nearly every episode, clip and mention of the TV series has been removed from streaming services and social media in China. Links to episodes on Youku, a streaming service, no longer work, per the Hollywood Reporter. A search of Weibo, a social media site resembling Twitter, no longer finds any South Park mentions. A search of online discussions brings the message, "According to the relevant law and regulation, this section is temporarily not open."

The Oct. 2 episode, "Band in China," had skewered the studios for bending to China's pressure, and the show's creators tweaked the NBA on Monday, as well. The league had apologized after one team's executive endorsed the Hong Kong protesters. South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone issued an apology to China on Monday that was just as mocking as the episode, per the Los Angeles Times. "Like the NBA, we welcome Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts,” they tweeted Monday. "We too love money more than freedom and democracy." The tweet included a link to Hulu, where the episode has not yet been banned, and ended with, "We good now China?" (More South Park stories.)