HONG KONG — Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s flagship carrier, has apologized and pulled from its in-flight entertainment system an episode of the American animated series “Family Guy” that referred to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
The airline removed the first-season episode of the popular and provocative series entitled “Death Has a Shadow” after a travel website reported a complaint.
The episode includes a seven-second scene in which the main character, Peter Griffin, is shown standing beside a protester in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in front of a row of tanks. The scene emulates an iconic image known as “Tank Man” in which an unidentified Chinese civilian faces off with People’s Liberation Army tanks during the deadly June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
The topic remains highly sensitive in China 35 years later and discussion of it is heavily censored.
“Cathay Pacific is aware of the incident and sincerely apologizes to the affected customers,” the airline told NBC News in a statement. “We emphasize that the content of the program does not represent Cathay Pacific’s standpoint, and have immediately arranged to have the program removed as soon as possible.”
The episode was no longer listed as available on Cathay Pacific’s entertainment website as of Wednesday.
The airline said that its in-flight entertainment content was managed by a third-party provider and that it had “consistently provided them with clear instructions to ensure that the recommended content meets our company standards.”
“We have promptly informed the service provider of the seriousness of the incident, and have instructed them to thoroughly investigate the cause and strengthen oversight to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future,” the airline said.
PacknGo.hk, an online platform specializing in travel-related services, reported that a reader alleged the episode may violate the National Security Law.
The website accused Cathay Pacific of failing to effectively regulate the system and allowing the politically sensitive footage to spread “subversive ideas.”
“The reader stated that they have reported the matter to the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force,” it said.
Hong Kong, a former British colony that was promised its civil liberties would be preserved for 50 years when it returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, had for decades held an annual candlelight vigil in honor of victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Tens of thousands of people attended what was often described as the only public commemoration of the events on Chinese territory.
But since 2020, individuals attempting to organize or attend the Tiananmen vigils have faced prosecution, amid an official crackdown on dissent following huge pro-democracy protests that roiled the international financial hub for months in 2019.
Public discussion of the Tiananmen Square crackdown has effectively been silenced in Hong Kong under a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 as well as local national security legislation unanimously enacted by Hong Kong’s opposition-free legislature in March.
The issue has also affected streaming services such as Disney+, whose Hong Kong version does not include episodes of “The Simpsons” that refer to the Tiananmen Square crackdown and accusations of forced labor. Disney has previously declined to comment on their removal, and it is unclear whether the episodes were removed voluntarily.
The Amazon Prime series “Expats,” which was partly filmed in Hong Kong and features scenes depicting pro-democracy protests in 2014, was also blocked in the Chinese territory when it was released this year.
