Iran's state broadcaster has fired the head of a regional TV channel after it broadcast a Jackie Chan film without removing a sex scene.
Viewers on Kish Island, a resort island off the southern coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf, were shocked when their local station showed the Hong Kong martial arts star having sex with a prostitute in one of his films.
The scene was from 2009 Hong Kong crime drama film Shinjuku Incident which was written and directed by Derek Yee.
Iranian media said the "immoral" scene was aired by Kish TV in "total violation of Irib's [Iran’ state media] regulations”.
Physical contact between men and women is not allowed on screen in the Middle Eastern country. This even includes shaking hands.
Censors are also said to be made to remove unveiled women, close-ups of women's faces and exposed necklines, men and women exchanging "tender words or jokes", and negative portrayals of police and bearded men.
The controversy sparked outrage among some Iranians who drew attention to the fact no one had been fired over a fatal bus crash that killed 10 students at Azad University in Tehran last week, an incident which has provoked protests against the perceived lack of interest from the authorities.
“Buses turn over, planes crash, ships sink … no one is dismissed … A few seconds of Jackie Chan making love on Irib and immediately all staff in that section are sacked,” one Twitter user said.
The Tasnim news agency reported Aliasgari Ali Askari, the head of Irib, had ordered an investigation into the incident and pledged "to seriously deal with the offenders and report them to the relevant authorities”.
Irib TV presenter Reza Rashidpoor joked on his morning talk show that the saga could have been avoided if the broadcaster had included a caption saying Chan was married to the actor who played the prostitute.
This was a reference to a programme last week in which Irib added a caption to say a couple holding hands on screen were married in real life.
Irib, which stands for the Islamic Republic of Iranian Broadcasting, is an Iranian media corporation which holds a monopoly of domestic radio and TV services in Iran. It is also among the biggest media organisations in the Asian and Pacific regions.
