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HONG KONG: The Oscars will not be shown in Hong Kong for the first time in more than half a century, their local announcer confirmed on Monday (March 29).
The ceremony has been broadcast in Hong Kong every year since 1969 on TVB free-to-air on its English channel. No channel will carry next month’s awards.
“It was a purely commercial decision that we decided not to pursue the Oscars this year,” a TVB spokesperson told AFP.
The decision comes after Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that the propaganda department of the Communist Party of China ordered its state-controlled media to downplay the awards and not show the ceremony live.
The cause is believed to be the nomination of “Do Not Split,” a short documentary about pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, as well as the four nods to Chinese-American director Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland.”
Since then, state media have published articles critical of the documentary, while online nationalists have pounced on Zhao for comments he made years ago that were perceived as critical of China.
State broadcaster CCTV, which has broadcast previous Oscar ceremonies, has yet to confirm whether it will show this year’s event. All media are strictly censored in mainland China.
Semi-autonomous Hong Kong maintains more freedoms under a model subtitled “One Country, Two Systems.”
But the atmosphere is changing rapidly. After huge and often violent protests for democracy in 2019, Beijing has moved to stamp out opposition, including the imposition of a widespread national security law in the city.
The pro-democracy opposition has flattened, but the law has also infiltrated the city’s cultural scene.
In recent weeks, cinemas pulled a protest documentary and a university canceled a press photo exhibition. A soon-to-open contemporary art museum has also said it will allow security officials to examine its collection.
