--- title: South Park's "Apology" to China Is Exactly What You'd Expect description: After 'South Park' criticized Hollywood's approach to China in a recent episode, the creators were compelled to issue an "apology" to China. canonical: https://time.com/5695157/south-park-china-apology/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-08T15:04:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:03.094Z og:title: South Park's 'Apology' to China Is Exactly What You'd Expect og:description: The show creators issued an "apology" that doubles down on their humor og:url: https://time.com/5695157/south-park-china-apology/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: South Park's 'Apology' to China Is Exactly What You'd Expect twitter:description: The show creators issued an "apology" that doubles down on their humor twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # South Park's 'Apology' to China Is Exactly What You'd Expect > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8ee6fc9a-7954-4cb1-bd02-8651346bf4ff&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Amid China Backlash, NBA Commissioner Says League Will Support Freedom of Speech [Watch (HLS stream): Amid China Backlash, NBA Commissioner Says League Will Support Freedom of Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cq3F8mNh.m3u8) (2:53)  _Published 2019-10-08. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is not apologizing for Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s since-deleted tweet showing support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong._  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 8, 2019 3:04 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 8, 2019 3:04 PM UTC Trust the creators of [_South Park_](https://time.com/4983160/south-park-fractured-but-whole-review/) to respond to controversy with… even more controversy. The long-running satirical cartoon show found itself in a bit of hot water after its most recent episode, [“Band in China,”](https://southpark.cc.com/full-episodes/s23e02-band-in-china) parodied the way that Western media tiptoes around China’s politics and regulations, often kowtowing to the country’s more restrictive policies. Ironically, the response showed life imitating art: China effectively banned all of _South Park_ from its internet. The _Hollywood Reporter_ [reports that](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/south-park-banned-chinese-internet-critical-episode-1245783) episodes, clips and even discussions or social media mentions of the show have been scrubbed from popular sites including Weibo, Youku and Tieba. So _South Park_ itself had to have the last word. In an “official apology” shared on social media, show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone doubled down on their stance. “Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts,” the apology begins, referencing [recent maneuverings](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/oct/08/nba-china-morey-tweet-houston-rockets-hong-kong) between the U.S. sports association and China over a top executive’s position on Hong Kong. “We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look just like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?” (The episode that sparked the removal compared Chinese leader [Xi Jinping](https://time.com/5610225/the-quick-read-about-xis-trip-to-pyongyang/) to Winnie the Pooh.) > [](https://twitter.com/SouthPark/status/1181273539799736320) This is not the first time China has flexed its muscle to exercise its authority; earlier this year, a number of [fashion brands apologized](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/12/fashion-labels-apologise-for-implying-taiwan-and-hong-kong-independent-from-china) — earnestly — after printing apparel that suggested that Taipei and Hong Kong were not part of China, a longstanding source of tension. But unlike in those instances, the _South Park_ team seems unbothered with their disappearance from the Chinese market, and willing to maintain their freedom of expression at the cost of government censorship in a foreign nation. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5695157/south-park-china-apology/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5695157/south-park-china-apology/"},"headline":"South Park's 'Apology' to China Is Exactly What You'd Expect","datePublished":"2019-10-08T15:04:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:03.094Z","description":"\"We good now China?\"","url":"https://time.com/5695157/south-park-china-apology/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5695157/south-park-china-apology/","name":"South Park's 'Apology' to China Is Exactly What You'd Expect"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Amid China Backlash, NBA Commissioner Says League Will Support Freedom of Speech","description":"NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is not apologizing for Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s since-deleted tweet showing support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/cq3F8mNh/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-10-08T12:56:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cq3F8mNh.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5695157/south-park-china-apology/","duration":"PT2M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5695157/south-park-china-apology/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```