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D’oh! Hong Kong and the extradition of Homer Simpson

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A photo illustration taken on November 29, 2021 of a mobile phone displaying the Disney+ streaming service in Hong Kong shows a list of episodes of popular US cartoon series "The Simpsons", with episode 12 of season 16 -- which depicts a scene of the Simpsons at Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the site of a deadly 1989 crackdown against democracy protesters -- missing from the list, adding to concerns about mainland China-style censorship in the city. (Photo by Peter PARKS / AFP) (Photo by PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)

Streaming platform Disney+ was launched in Hong Kong this month, but something is missing. To be specific, it is episode 12 of season 16 of the beloved cartoon The Simpsons. In the episode, the Simpsons go to China and visit Tiananmen Square in Beijing. In the square stands a sign saying “on this site, in 1989, nothing happened”. These satirical and politically engaged jokes are the reason we love the Simpsons.

But it doesn’t take much for the Chinese Communist Party to be offended. With the censorship of Homer Simpson, Hong Kong is starting to look more and more like mainland China when it comes to freedom of expression.

The clampdown on dissent in Hong Kong has been making the headlines for a long time.

If now even American cartoons from 2005 are considered dangerous and subversive, we should brace ourselves for more to come.