The Eurovision Song Contest, the biggest music contest in the world, is set to air this weekend on channels around the world. However, not, it seems, in China, after the European Broadcasting Union banned Chinese broadcaster Mango TV from blocking LGBT elements of the event.
Mango TV, the online video arm of Hunan TV, blacked out the performance of Ireland’s Ryan O’Shaughnessy, which featured two male dancers and pixelated a rainbow flag during another song. It also separately blurred tattoos from Albanian singer Eugent Bushpepa.
Although homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997, many people are still discriminated against in the country. There has also been a crackdown on tattoos, with media regulators censoring actors who are inked.
