Wed 17 Feb 2010 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Censorship of homosexuality on at least one of our overseas-sourced pay TV channels looks set to continue for some time yet despite a number of gay people objecting to a man-on-man kiss being blurred on the E! channel. Censored: Ewan McGregor says he understands where the E! producers are coming from, but believes that the "conservative sociology" of the American TV marketplace "which got so indignant about a flash of nipple" in prime-time a few years ago is just as much to blame as the institutionalised homophobia of some of our Asia/Pacific neighbours "such as Singapore and Malaysia." "But we are very lucky, being a tiny market in international terms, to have access to so many TV channels," Sims says, implying that such 'coy' trade-offs might be part of the bargain. But censoring such gay-themed content "reinforces homophobia," he acknowledges. E! says it tries "to be sensitive to the different requirements of each territory" and claims to be in the process of "overcoming the technical hurdles that will allow us to create territory-specific versions of our shows." The spokesperson would not be drawn on how long that process might take. "I hope it happens sooner rather than later," says Sims. The full, uncensored trailer for I Love You Phillip Morris appears below.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 17th February 2010 - 1:41am