The recent appearance of President Barack Obama on The Ellen DeGeneres Show made headlines across the world for one genuinely heart-warming segment.
In one of those rare times, the beloved — and very chatty — talk show host suddenly choked up and was visibly overwhelmed when the US president congratulated her for her major role in changing attitudes towards LGBT people in America.
Viewers in Singapore, however, wouldn’t have known that if they had watched that episode on local TV. Apparently, the particular segment was cut entirely from broadcast on Feb 23 on Mediacorp’s Channel 5, reports Gay Star News. (Though the censorship did nothing to prevent folks from going on YouTube to check out that moment, where it racked up nearly 2 million views as of writing.)
It was local thespian Neo Swee Lin who noticed the missing portion of the show on cable channel Lifetime Asia, and informed the LGBT publication.
In fact, that wasn’t the only segment that was cut from broadcast. Mediacorp had also chopped out a Valentine’s Day greeting by first lady Michelle Obama addressed to the openly gay DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi.
LGBT equality torch-bearers Pink Dot Singapore took to Facebook to express their disappointment over the intentional cut. “The censorship of anything remotely neutral or positive about LGBT by Media Development Authority, Singapore has to stop,” they wrote in a Facebook post.
The censorship of anything remotely neutral or positive about LGBT by Media Development Authority, Singapore has to…
Posted by Pink Dot SG on Tuesday, 23 February 2016
The censorship shouldn’t come as a total surprise though. Mainstream media guidelines outrightly prohibit broadcast of music or programmes that positively portray LGBT lifestyles — which Pink Dot and LGBT organisation Oogachaga have been trying to challenge.
Of course, broadcasters are afraid to incur the wrath of the Media Development Authority (MDA) again — especially considering the harsh fines they’ve slapped on TV stations who breached their restrictions. In 2008, Mediacorp was fined $15,000 for airing an episode of home and decor series Find and Design, where a gay couple renovated their game room into a nursery for their adopted baby. MDA objected to the show’s host acknowledging them as a family, which is a breach of restrictions against “programmes that promote, justify or glamorise gay lifestyles”.
