One of Malaysia’s oldest TV stations has earned ridicule online for its decision to blur the bodies of two celebrity presenters from Sunday’s Academy Awards while replaying a clip during one of its news programs.
Jessica Chastain and Halle Berry, the Oscar presenters for Best Actress, were shown with their entire bodies blurred out, leaving only their faces visible, in a snippet from a news program posted on the Buletin TV3 official Facebook page. For close-up shots of the duo, only their cleavage was blurred out.
Although Malaysians were overjoyed by Michelle Yeoh’s historic win in the category, this particular incident definitely caught the public’s eye online.
The censorship elicited predictable reactions from Malaysians and non-Malaysians alike, with many expressing confusion and dismay.
Commenters raised concerns about the policing of what people can see and how women appear in public in Malaysia.
The censorship, according to some, was unnecessary because it made the women look lewd even when they were properly dressed.
Others pointed out that Malaysia has far more serious issues than partially exposed chests.
One Twitter user commented that men’s bare chests were also subjected to censorship, implying that there is some equity.
I mean, the men won’t be spared either 😂
— popculturebf (@heyzahir) March 15, 2023
This is a show we caught when we went to JB over the weekend pic.twitter.com/LfXSMsZBqJ
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