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In a 20-minute segment aired on HBO last
Sunday, Oliver criticized China's moves to end presidential term
limits and enshrine "Xi Jinping Thought" in its constitution,
saying Xi's consolidation of power was driven by a "leadership
cult".
Oliver also mocked China's "Belt and Road" initiative, its
ongoing crackdown on corruption, and moves to censor online
images of the cartoon bear Winnie the Pooh, said to resemble Xi.
Attempts to post Oliver's English name or the name of his show
prompted error messages about "information that violated related
laws and regulations". The Chinese translation of his name does
not appear to have been censored.
"For my whole life, I won't be able to see John Oliver enter
China's market after this episode," one Weibo user wrote on
Thursday, using a Chinese translation of Oliver's name.
On Thursday, June 12 was the most recent date on Weibo posts
referring to John Oliver in English.
Last year, Weibo removed a Chinese-language fanpage of John
Oliver's show after the satirist interviewed Tibet's exiled
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, according to a previous
moderator of the fanpage.
The fanpage had a following of around 3,000 users at the time,
said the moderator, who declined to be identified.
"John Oliver must have seen this coming, but I don't think it
really matters. China does not generate any revenue for HBO,"
said a fan who used to help translate content for the show into
Chinese. He, too, sought anonymity.
(Reporting by David Stanway and Stella Qiu; Additional reporting
by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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