Aired In China, BTS, Lady Gaga, And Justin Bieber's Appearance Was 'Deleted' On Friends: The Reunion

JAKARTA - The special Friends: The Reunion that airs on HBO has a number of interesting things. Not only the reunion of the Friends series players are awaited, but also some of the guests who attended the event.

A number of confirmed guests attending were David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lady Gaga, Elliott Gould, Kit Harington, Larry Hankin, Mindy Kaling, Thomas Lennon, Christina Pickles, Tom Selleck, James Michael Tyler , Maggie Wheeler, Reese Witherspoon and Malala Yousafzai.

However, something was different when Friends: The Reunion aired in China. Some of the guests who were not present at the event, namely BTS, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber.

Fans of all three found that all streaming services from China (iQiyi, Youku, Tencent) cut some appearances. They believe this action was carried out because the three musicians allegedly insulted China in the past.

This censorship caused the disappointment of fans, especially since the Friends series is also popular in China. This series is one of the reasons people can learn English and introduce them to American culture.

The original duration was about one hour 44 minutes, but these three streaming services cut scenes at different lengths. iQiyi with six minutes, Tencent with five minutes, Youku with four minutes.

BTS became the center of controversy after 2020 they made comments regarding the Korean War. At that time, one member, RM said South Korea shared a painful history with the United States in the 1950-53 conflict.

The statement made the Chinese public angry because Beijing turned its back on North Korea during the war. As a result, boycott requests began to emerge.

The scene cut from Friends is when RM tells how much influence the series has had on life and friendship.

Lady Gaga was also one of the musicians who were banned from touring in China after meeting the Dalai Lama in 2016. Because of this, the scene with Lisa Kudrow singing Smelly Cat in Friends: The Reunion was deleted.

Justin Bieber's appearance as Spudnik to impersonate Ross's character has also disappeared from the streaming service. Prior to this, Bieber himself had been banned from touring in China because of his bad behavior.

This boycott was carried out after Bieber uploaded a photo at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. The symbol is a sign that Japan does not forgive the past and serves the Emperor.

In addition, some of the missing content is discussion and matters related to LGBT and sexual in nature. Apart from that, they are used to censoring things that are called unfit to appear in public such as Hip-hop culture, tattoos, foreign fashion brands, and others.