Disney has removed an episode of “The Simpsons” that mentions China’s human rights abuses from the entertainment company’s streaming platform in Hong Kong, the Financial Times reports.
The episode, titled “One Angry Lisa,” features a joke about “forced labor camps where children make smartphones” in China.
CBS News is reporting that the episode is no longer available on Disney+ in Hong Kong.
In the episode, the character Marge Simpson rides a Peloton-style bike with an instructor whose backdrop is the Great Wall of China.
“Today our pedal odyssey will take us on the Great Wall of China,” the instructor says.
“Behold, the wonders of China. Bitcoin mines, forced labour camps where children make smartphones and romance.”
The move to remove the episode has drawn criticism of self-censorship by Disney.
Hong Kong introduced a national security law in 2020 that bans “sedition, secession and subversion” against the Chinese government.
It’s the second Simpsons episode that Disney has pulled from its streaming platform in Hong Kong.
In 2021, the company took down an episode that contained a reference to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.
AP reports that Western governments and activists have for years accused China of imprisoning hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities – mainly Uyghurs – in the western region of Xinjiang in detention camps.
China rejects accusations it uses forced labour in those camps.
