Gay Asian Oscar viewers outraged at telecast censorship

Towleroad's initial report about anti-gay censorship of recent Oscar re-broadcasts by Asian networks has been confirmed .

It's been reported by mainstream media that STAR, an Asian satellite TV service that says it reaches more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries, cut the sound during Oscar re-broadcasts when winners Dustin Lance Black (pictured) and Sean Penn mentioned "gay" or "lesbian" in their acceptance speeches. Their speeches were shown in full during live broadcasts of the Oscars that were screened across Asia on Monday morning.

The Associated Press story quotes Pang Khee Teik, a prominent Malaysian arts commentator, as saying: "As a gay man, I am truly offended...Stop censoring the words that describe who I am....[The censorship] sent a message...that gays and lesbians are still shameful things to be censored from the public's ears."

Jannie Poon, STAR's Hong Kong-based spokeswoman, stressed that the company had no intention of upsetting any viewers, but said it has "a responsibility to take the sensitivities and guidelines of all our markets into consideration."

What guidelines might those be, I wonder. This is such a shame.

Still, there's no doubt that the queer-positive messages from Black and Penn on Sunday have been heard around the world, as this article attests.