China streaming platforms censor Friends lesbian storyline

Call it "The One Without the Lesbian Wedding."

Chinese streaming services have heavily censored multiple episodes of Friends featuring references to and appearances by LGBTQ characters, according to the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post. CNN also reported that conversations about Ross's (David Schwimmer) ex-wife, Carol (Anita Barone), who divorces him after coming out as a lesbian, were removed from the series' first episode, while scenes featuring the character were deleted from the second episode, per the Morning Post.

Censors also reportedly removed a scene of Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) kissing on New Year's Eve and altered dialogue in the show's Chinese-language subtitles, such as changing a line about women having "multiple orgasms" to "women have endless gossips."

After the first season of Friends debuted on several streaming platforms in censored form on Friday, Chinese fans of the show took to the social media site Weibo to protest the changes, pushing #FriendsCensored to the top of the site's trending topics. However, that hashtag was also censored on the platform by Saturday morning, CNN reports.

An uncensored version of Friends was previously available on Chinese streaming platforms Sohu video and iQiyi from 2012 to 2013.

"Seriously, if you can't broadcast [the complete version], just don't do it at all," a popular comment on Weibo read, according to the Morning Post. "[The streaming platforms] spent big bucks to buy the rights [to the show], but efforts to alter lines and edit out scenes ended up being slammed by the audience. What for?"

Western films and TV shows are often censored in China, even more so recently as the government has tightened its grip on the media. HBO Max's Friends reunion special was also heavily edited, with segments featuring stars like BTS, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber removed. Censors also purged all LGBTQ references from the special, including a reflection from a gay German Friends fan named Ricardo, who said the show helped him feel like he belonged.

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