Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Annie Yi banned by Chinese broadcaster

Taiwanese artiste Annie Yi has reportedly been blacklisted by Chinese broadcasters, following her show of support for the Southern Weekly incident, a conflict between the newspaper and Propaganda Department of Guangdong Province regarding press freedom last year.

Last Saturday, an episode of Chinese variety show Happy Camp, which was supposed to feature Chinese actor Qin Han’s proposal to Annie, was allegedly banned from airing. Previously, the singer-actress’ parts in China's Got Talent were edited out after she was dropped from the programme last year.

Responding to queries on Happy Camp, Hunan TV explained in a Weibo post that the broadcast of a programme is dependent on the channel’s schedule. Although the statement dismissed rumours that Happy Camp has ended its run, it did not make any mention of Annie’s role in the station’s decision to cancel the broadcast.

Unaware that the programme did not air on Saturday night, Qin Han wrote on Weibo: “Having fried chicken with beer. It’s a pity that I can’t watch Happy Camp in Korea.”

Shortly after, Annie replied to the post: “I can’t watch [the show] in Taipei too. Let’s watch it together when you are back, Qin oppa.” However, the singer-actress was found to have deleted her comment after learning that the programme was not aired.