30th May: Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and LGBTQ fans were left out of HBO’s much-anticipated “Friends: The Reunion,” aggravating fans and shocked fans outside China. South Korean boy band BTS, a shot of Matt LeBlanc’s Joey in his underpants, and a reference to peeing on a jellyfish sting were also deleted from the show, Variety and Agence France Presse said.

According to Variety, approximately six minutes of the 104-minute episode recreating the long-running American sitcom about six New York friends, which has a large fan base in China, were censored. Many of the same moments were eliminated by China’s iQiyi, Alibaba’s Youku, and Tencent Video.

LADY GAGA BAN:

Gaga sang “Smelly Cat” alongside Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe in the full HBO Max version. Kudrow, she says, was “the unusual one, the one who was truly herself” on the show. Kudrow just sang a single lyric in the Chinese version. After meeting with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in 2016, Lady Gaga was barred from touring in China, which China has labeled a dangerous separatist.

JUSTIN BIEBER BAN:

In the Chinese reunion versions, Bieber’s amusing strut down a catwalk in the crazy “Spudnik” potato costume that Ross wore for Halloween in a season 8 episode was also missing. For a “series of bad actions,” including a 2014 visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni war shrine, which honors Japanese war dead, including World War II war criminals, Bieber was barred from performing in China.

BTS:

In Chinese versions of the reunion program, BTS was also removed. Chinese nationalists attacked BTS last October for forgetting to recognize Chinese soldiers’ sacrifices in the Korean War during the band’s acceptance speech for a trophy honoring the group’s contribution to US-South Korean relations.

FURIOUS FANS:

“I’m fxxking speechless. Either give us the unedited version or never broadcast the clip. What is the point of watching the censored version?” asked @Maidoufudaye on Weibo, The Guardian reported.

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