- Cathay Pacific is facing criticism for airing politically sensitive in-flight entertainment.
- The airline apologised and removed the material, attributing the oversight to a third-party provider.
- The incident highlights ongoing challenges with content regulation in the region and wider industry.
Hong Kong’s national carrier, Cathay Pacific, has found itself at the centre of an increasingly common censorship controversy after an in-flight episode of the American cartoon series Family Guy was aired on its entertainment system.
Featuring a scene that riffs on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the episode was considered offensive by a number of flyers given its highly sensitive nature and full-blown censorship in China. Following a social media complaint that suggested the content could breach Hong Kong’s national security laws, the airline swiftly removed the episode and issued an apology.
The Family Guy Scene That Sparked Outcry
The scene in question manages to be highly contentious despite its tiny seven-second runtime. Main character Peter Griffin stands next to a protester in front of a line of Chinese tanks, mirroring the iconic Tank Man image. As the tanks approach, Peter says “Ah screw this, I just came over to buy some fireworks,” before running away.
While Family Guy has become immensely popular off the back of such satirical riffs, the scene undeniably relies on one of the most censored and contentious events in Chinese history, the military’s violent suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators on June 4th 1989.
It was Hong Kong’s national security law, introduced in 2020 after widespread pro-democracy protests in 2019. The law criminalises any acts that could be deemed as secession, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with foreign forces. Unsurprisingly, any content referencing the Tiananmen Square crackdown is considered highly sensitive and a potential violation of this legislation.
Cathay Pacific’s Response and Apology
Cathay Pacific hastily released a statement in an attempt at damage control, saying: “We emphasise that the programme’s content does not represent Cathay Pacific’s standpoint and have immediately arranged to have the programme removed as soon as possible.” The airline went on to apologise to upset customers and emphasised that its in-flight entertainment content is managed by a third-party provider, who have since received strict orders to…
“Thoroughly investigate the cause and strengthen oversight to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future.”
Related Stories
Cathay Pacific’s total reliance on external companies for its in-flight entertainment content raises wider questions about content oversight in the airline sector. Cathay Pacific insisted it has always provided clear instructions to ensure content meets company standards… but clearly that message was not received in full.
A Pattern of Censorship
This is far from the first time international media has been censored in Hong Kong. In 2021, Disney+ launched with the notable absence of a Simpsons episode that also referenced Tiananmen Square with a plaque reading, “On this site, in 1989, nothing happened.” Amazon Prime’s series Expats, set in Hong Kong and featuring scenes from protests in 2014, was released globally but not in Hong Kong.
For over thirty years, Hong Kong was the only region under Chinese rule that allowed public commemorations of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Annual vigils saw hundreds of thousands gather to mourn for the victims. Since the national security law’s enactment, however, such gatherings have stopped outright and organisers face charges of subversion. Authorities have similarly cracked down on any depiction or direct reference to the protests.
Qantas’ Entertainment Blunder Earlier This Year
Two months ago, Qantas also had to apologise to passengers after an in-flight entertainment blunder. Though not politically sensitive in the same manner as Cathay’s problem, the Australian carrier did manage to show a sexually explicit film to the entire plane on a flight from Sydney to Haneda.
Due to technical issues that made individual movie selection a no-go, the cabin crew, responding to requests from passengers, chose to screen Daddio, a 2023 film starring Dakota Johnson. Rated R in the US for “language, sexual material and brief graphic nudity” and carrying an MA15+ rating in Australia for “strong coarse language and nudity”, they quickly realised this may have been a mistake.
Audible gasps filled the cabin and crew members quickly halted the movie, replacing it with a family-friendly children’s film. After the flight, passengers shared their experiences on social media, with one pithily summarising the experience as “40 minutes of p*nis and b**bs” before expressing sympathy for the children and parents onboard.
