Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific has apologized for offering passengers an episode of the US show ‘Family Guy’, which included a scene and a joke referencing the infamous 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen protesters. square in the Chinese capital.
The episode, from the first season of the American animated series, shows father figure Peter Griffin standing next to the ‘Tank Man’ in a recreation of an infamous photo showing a lone resistance against Chinese forces as they moved in to disperse. prolonged pro-democracy protest. As the tanks approach, the cartoon dad says, “Ah, fuck this, I just came to buy some fireworks,” before fleeing.
A spokesperson for Hong Kong’s flagship airline told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday that it had apologized to customers after someone complained on social media about the in-flight delivery.
Jeff Widener/AP
“We emphasize that the content of the program does not represent the position of Cathay Pacific and have immediately ensured that the program is removed as soon as possible,” the airline said.
On June 4, 1989, Chinese soldiers, acting on orders from Communist Party hardliners, opened fire on thousands of protesters who had occupied Beijing’s central Tiananmen Square.
The enduring ‘Tank Man’ statue has become a symbol of the bloody crackdown, which Chinese authorities have gone to great lengths to erase from history since the event. CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer visited the square 30 years after the crackdownin 2019, and found nothing there to commemorate the events, and when she showed photos of the crackdown, including the photo of the “Tank Man,” to young Chinese passersby, none of them recognized the images.
After unprecedented pro-democracy protests swept through Hong Kong in 2019, authorities in the semi-autonomous Chinese region has spoken out against dissentbringing together hundreds of opposition and civil society figures and quickly passing new national security legislation that consolidated Beijing’s control.
In November a The Hong Kong court has charged 47 peopleincluding several prominent pro-democracy activists, about their involvement in an unofficial primary election to elect opposition candidates.
Cathay Pacific said it consistently informs the third-party company responsible for in-flight entertainment to ensure the content offered meets airline standards, according to the South China Morning Post.
