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Censorship Entertainment

Disney Blocks John Oliver's New Episode Critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (techcrunch.com) 166

Disney-owned Hotstar, India's largest on-demand video streaming service with more than 300 million users, has blocked the newest episode of HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" that was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From a report: The move has angered many of its customers ahead of Disney+'s launch in one of the world's largest entertainment markets next month. In the episode, aired hours before U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to India, Oliver talked about some of the questionable policies enforced by the ruling government in India and recent protests against "controversial figure" Modi's citizenship measures. The 19-minute news recap and commentary sourced its information from credible news outlets. The episode is available to stream in India through HBO's official channel on YouTube, where it has garnered more than 4 million views. Hotstar is the exclusive syndicating partner of HBO, Showtime and ABC in India.
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Disney Blocks John Oliver's New Episode Critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 25, 2020 @01:02PM (#59765454)

    I guess we know where Disney's money is really coming from these days.

    • by michelcolman ( 1208008 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2020 @01:11PM (#59765506)

      Well, it's been a while since I've watched any John Oliver episodes, but I'll make sure to watch this one on youTube. Narendra Modi Streisand, is it?

    • Being critical of the USA is currently popular. I recently discovered that Border Wars is strangely absent from National Geographic on Disney Plus. Not a US critical episode but it shows what is actually happening on the border which apparently they donâ(TM)t want people to know.

      • Makes sense. Disney uses a LOT of foreign labor in the US. And if their subcontractors are using undocumented foreign labor, I'm sure Disney would rather just maintain plausible deniability of any knowledge of that.

        • It has nothing to do with "undocumented foreign labor", it's that anything with the Disney name attached to, the Disney corporation handles with kid gloves and tries to avoid any controversy at all because they really think their "family friendly" description would be harmed. Or at least that's the excuse the corporation always uses.
          They've given up on social responsibility just to maintain a particular market image.
          That's been going on since shortly after Walt died, so it's nothing new, nor is it because o
    • by Penguinisto ( 415985 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2020 @01:29PM (#59765618) Journal

      The sad part is, it's hard to tell** if the government prodded it, or if Hotstar pre-emptively dumped the episode. It's one thing if you see a company forced to take something down due to an external force. It's another if it did so on its own, because you never know if it was done out of fear, or out of a sycophantic desire to get favors.

      ** to tell for certain anyway. After all, lies abound, as does the fact that in big bureaucracies one minion (even the lead one) may not know what others in the same org has done or said...

      • you never know if it was done out of fear, or out of a sycophantic desire to get favors.

        This is the problem with modern corruption. You very rarely find explicit Quid Pro Quo since people with half a brain know they don't need to actually bribe anyone, they can just let Darwin do your dirty work by supporting an environment in which the "fittest" competitors just happen to already align with what you want done.

        You don't need to engineer a super-bug you just kill off the germs which aren't resistant and the remainder is your killer virus.

        Companies just make sure that politicians which don't fi

      • Look up Noam Chomsky's "Manufactured Consent". Mass media actively works with the Establishment to protect and expand each other. There's more money for everybody that way. Well, except the general populace...
    • by memnock ( 466995 )

      See my comment here [slashdot.org]. Substitute references to China and Chinese there with India and Indian, respectively.

  • Fascism gotta fash.

  • I've seen the YouTube excerpt of the episode and I understand why Modi would be upset and why Trump would be on Modi's side, but what's in it for Disney?

    Small world syndrome. Just reading the large biography of Osamu Tezuka, the gawd of Japanese manga and anime. He really loved Disney's movies and thought they were inspirational and 14 other flavors of greatness. But now I think he was lucky to die before getting sued for the blatant copyright infringement of Jiminy Cricket he drew on the napkin. I finally

  • YouTube link (Score:5, Informative)

    by jbernardo ( 1014507 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2020 @01:43PM (#59765674)
    In case your google-fu fails you, here is the link - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=... [youtube.com]

    Just helping the Modi Streisand effect...

  • Das Eine wisset ein für allemal:
    Wie ihr es immer dreht und immer schiebt
    Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.

    BB

  • I don't see why I should stop hating Disney anytime soon. Do you?
  • HST found his niche and so does JO. Funny British do not find him so amusing but Americans do. Seems logical Disney would not want to promote JO, inconsistent with their brand.
  • ... two most populous countries in the world with 1/3 of world population, explicitly, Nazi style, discriminate against Muslims.

  • .... while Roosevelt hugging it out with Hitler while siteseeing Brandenburg Gate.

    Lindbergh finally won in USA.

Avoid strange women and temporary variables.

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