China Blocks Oscar Telecast For Second Straight Year

Chinese movie lovers will not be able to watch Sunday’s telecast of the Academy Awards ceremony for the second consecutive year.

Last Year’s Snub: According to a Deadline report, the 2021 Oscars were not seen in China reportedly due to critical comments made by Chloé Zhao, director of “Nomadland,” about the Chinese Communist Party. Zhao won the best director Award while “Nomadland,” released by the Walt Disney Co.’s DIS Searchlight Pictures division, won the best picture honors.

The 2021 Oscars also included “Do Not Split,” a nonfiction film about political protests in Hong Kong, as a nominee for the best documentary short subject award. The Hong Kong broadcaster TVB also kept the Oscar telecast off the air last year, a first after more than five decades of annual telecasts.

See Also: 10 Weirdest Academy Award Achievements Of All Time

This Year’s Snub: For Sunday’s telecast, neither TVB nor China’s state-run television CCTV plans to put the show on the air. China’s state-run media has also mostly ignored this year’s awards competition, with only an article in the state-run Global Times newspaper about Oscar nominees from Spain.

China participated in the annual Oscar competition for the best international feature film award, submitting the thriller “Cliff Walkers” directed by three-time Oscar-nominated Zhang Yimou. However, the film was not nominated in that category.

While the Chinese government gave no explanation for the omission of the Oscars from its television line-up, it is possible the blackout is because of the likelihood of Russia’s war in Ukraine being raised by award presenters and winners. China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion and enact sanctions and China’s media has framed the U.S. and its allies as the villains in the crisis. Today’s Global Times, for example, covers the news with headlines including “Washington Benefits from Ukraine’s Misfortune” and “NATO Summit to Fan Flames of Ukraine Crisis, Unlikely to Reach Major Concrete Consensus: Expert.”

The Oscars telecast will be seen in the U.S. on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT; the show will also be live-streamed on Hulu + Live TV, Fubo TV and YouTube TV.

Photo: Mohamed Hassan / Pixabay