Latest episode of 'Rick and Morty' cops flak as fans spot protest codes

The latest episode of adult cartoon sitcom Rick and Morty has caused heated discussions as fans claimed it consists of implied references to Hong Kong city’s protest earlier in 2019. 

Final DeSmithation, the fifth episode of the sixth season of the show, which was out on 1 October, featured a chaotic storyline involving an imprisoned alien making fortune cookies, as well as a series of codes including “GFHG19SDGM”, “721”, “19 HK 831”.

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE on LIHKG found that the codes immediately piqued the interest of Hong Kongers, with some saying they are related to the ambiguous messages shown during the democratic movement back in 2019. Some conspired that the codes referred to significant dates in the protest— which was named a “July 21 attack” on protesters by government supporters, and police beating protesters inside a MTR station on 31 August.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Warner Media for a statement. 

Social monitoring firm Meltwater saw a total of 322 mentions in the past seven days related to the incident, with 217 mentions on Twitter and 31 on Reddit. 

"Rick and Morty" isn't the only cartoon sitcom that contains sensitive political content. Back in November last year, Disney+ has 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 early November last year, 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. 

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