Chinese broadcaster Mango TV has come under fire after removing a reference to homosexuality from its online broadcast of Rami Malek’s Oscar acceptance speech.
Malek received the coveted Best Actor trophy for his role as Freddie Mercury in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and used his speech to pay tribute to the late star, who died in 1991 from an Aids-related illness.
“We made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life unapologetically himself,” he said.
“The fact that I’m celebrating him and this story with you tonight is proof that we’re longing for stories like this.”
However, Mango TV, which is one of the most popular channels in China, removed the reference to “a gay man,” reportedly replacing it with “special group.”
The BBC reports that Chinese music blogger Linglei Guodu noted the translation error in a post on social media platform Sina Weibo, sharing a screenshot from the broadcast and writing: “Mango TV translated ‘gay man’ as ‘special group.’”
Another user is thought to have added: “Even the word ‘gay’ can’t appear on our screens, this is so sad.’”
China was previously banned from showing last year’s Eurovision song contest by the European Broadcasting Union after censoring footage from a semi-final.
Mango TV reportedly blurred rainbow flags waved during the broadcast and censored tattoos, and are thought to have decided not to air semi-final performances from Ireland (which featured background footage of a same-sex love story) and Albania, whose chosen act was heavily tattooed.
The EBU said that the move was “not in line with the EBU’s values of universality and inclusivity and our proud tradition of celebrating diversity through music.”
