Cathay apologises for airing controversial Family Guy episode with 'Tank Man' scene

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific has apologised for airing an episode of the animated American series Family Guy that was said to be related to Tiananmen Square’s “Tank Man” on its in-flight entertainment programme. The episode has been taken down.

According to its official statement seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Cathay Pacific’s spokesperson said it is aware of the incident and sincerely apologises to the affected customers. “We emphasise that the content of the programme does not represent Cathay Pacific's standpoint, and have immediately arranged to have the programme removed as soon as possible.”

The selection of Cathay Pacific’s in-flight entertainment content is managed by a third-party content service provider, the spokesperson added. “We have consistently provided them with clear instructions to ensure that the recommended content meets our company standards.”

“We have promptly informed the service provider of the seriousness of the incident, and have instructed them to thoroughly investigate the cause and strengthen oversight to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future,” added the spokesperson.

“Tank Man” is an iconic image which refers to an unidentified Chinese man who intended to block a line of military tanks leaving Beijing's Tiananmen Square on 5 June 1989.

The controversial episode, “Death Has a Shadow”, in the first season of the animated series, features a scene of the main character Peter Griffin standing near a man in Tiananmen Square in front of a line of approaching tanks.

The series revolves around the adventures of an eccentric family living in New England in the United States. As of 5 December, a check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw the episode was no longer available on Cathay’s entertainment website.

Media intelligence firm CARMA saw over 629 mentions regarding the incident.  Sentiments of conversations about Cathay Pacific before the Family Guy episode incident was 20.9% positive and 8.9% negative. Sentiments of conversations about Cathay Pacific after the Family Guy episode incident are 8.1% positive and 38.5% negative.

Keywords associated with the incident include "Cathay", "Tiananmen", "violation", "national security", "take down".

Don't miss: Disney+ reportedly removes The Simpsons Tiananmen Square episode

Similarly, back in 2021, Disney+ removed an episode of The Simpsons which depicts the family visiting Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Multiple reports including The Guardian said episode 12 of season 16, which debuted in 2005, featured the cartoon family going to China to try and adopt a baby.

During the same journey, they also visit Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. In the episode, there is a sign in the square that reads “On this site, in 1989, nothing happened”. However, in reality, there are two signs. The left one reads "long live the People's Republic of China", while the right one reads "long live the great unity of the world's peoples." It remains unclear if Disney+ decided to self censor the episode or if it was an order from the Chinese government. 

In November 2021, the film censorship (amendment) ordinance 2021 and the updated film censorship guidelines for censors came into effect. Censors are required to consider a number of factors before approving a film, including the exhibition of the film would be contrary to the interests of national security.

Related articles:

Latest episode of 'Rick and Morty' cops flak as fans spot protest codes
HBO GO takes Rick and Morty fans on global treasure hunt