iQiyi Says Deletion of LGBTQ Series in Singapore Is Temporary
Chinese-owned video streamer iQiyi has confirmed that it has blocked access in Singapore to ten gay-themed TV series. But it says that the move is temporary.
“The content was temporarily removed in compliance with the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s guidance towards R21 content,” a company spokesman told Variety by email. R21 restricts viewing to people aged over 21.
The shows blocked include iQiyi’s Thai-language original “KinnPorsche and “Until We Met Again” that fall into the ‘Boys Love’ or BL genre. Soft-core romances between (mostly young and handsome) men have become hugely popular in Southeast Asia. And much of the audience for them is adult and female.
The Singapore government recently said that it will continue to restrict and classify media content with LGBTQ themes, even after its planned decriminalization of same-sex relationships.
The move to repeal a colonial-era law that criminalized sex between men was announced in August by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The law, Section 377A of the Penal Code, was introduced in 1938 and established a two-year jail term for “any act of gross indecency” between two men, either in public or in private. But Lee said that the law on marriage will be strengthened to only include heterosexual couples.
“We will continue to take reference from prevailing norms. LGBTQ media content will continue to warrant higher age ratings,” said Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information in August. Read More…
