Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong‘s flagship carrier has apologized and pulled an episode of the American cartoon from its in-flight entertainment system Family Guy which refers to 1989 Repression in Tiananmen Square.
The airline has removed the episode from the first season of the popular and provocative series titled “Death Has a Shadow” after a travel website reported a complaint.
The episode includes a seven-second scene in which the main character, Peter Griffin, is shown standing next to a protester in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in front of a line of tanks. The scene mimics an iconic image known as “Tank Man,” in which an unidentified Chinese civilian confronts People’s Liberation Army tanks during a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on June 4, 1989.
Get the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today 
The subject remains highly sensitive in China 35 years later and discussion of it is heavily censored.
“Cathay Pacific is aware of the incident and sincerely apologizes to affected customers,” the airline told NBC News in a statement.
“We emphasize that the content of the program does not represent the views of Cathay Pacific and have immediately arranged for the program to be removed as soon as possible.” The episode was no longer listed as available on Cathay Pacific’s entertainment website as of Wednesday.
The airline said its in-flight entertainment content is managed by a third-party provider and that it has “consistently provided them with clear instructions to ensure that the recommended content meets our company’s standards”.
“We informed the service provider of the seriousness of the incident in a timely manner and instructed them to thoroughly investigate the cause and strengthen supervision to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future,” the airline said.
PacknGo.hk, an online platform specializing in travel-related services, reported that a reader claimed the episode could violate the National Security Act.
The website accused Cathay Pacific of failing to effectively regulate the system and allowing politically sensitive cadres to spread “subversive ideas”.
“The reader stated that he reported the case to the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force,” it said.
Hong Kong, a former British colony that was promised its civil liberties would be preserved for 50 years when returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, had for decades held an annual candlelight vigil in honor of the victims of the Tiananmen Square repression. Tens of thousands of people attended what is often described as the only public commemoration on Chinese soil.
But from 2020 individuals attempting to organize or attend Tiananmen vigils face prosecution amid an official crackdown on dissent following massive pro-democracy protests that rocked the international financial center for months in 2019.
Public discussion of the Tiananmen Square crackdown was effectively silenced in Hong Kong under a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020, as well as domestic national security legislation unanimously passed by Hong Kong’s opposition-free legislature in March.
The problem has also affected streaming services such as Disney+, whose Hong Kong version does not include episodes of “The Simpsons” which refer to Repression in Tiananmen Square and allegations of forced labor. Disney previously declined to comment on their removal, and it’s unclear whether the episodes were removed voluntarily.
The Amazon Prime Series Expats, which was partially filmed in Hong Kong and includes scenes depicting pro-democracy protests in 2014, was also blocked in Chinese territory when it was released this year.
