Indian streaming platform Hotstar recently blocked an episode of John Oliver’s Late Night Show for being critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, airs every Tuesday at 6 am on the Disney-owned OTT platform. This week, however, viewers were unable to watch the latest episode which criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his party BJP, and RSS.
Reflecting on Trump’s visit to India, the comedian also commented on the Indian Prime Minister’s regime.
Oliver discussed the widespread protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. He also criticised President Trump for calling Modi, the “Father of India”, for the title is used to address Mahatama Gandhi.
In the episode, Oliver said:
“The only glimmer of hope here is that for perhaps the first time in Modi’s whole career, his actions are creating a massive and sustained backlash.”
Hotstar has not released any official statement addressing the ban yet.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, however, stated that the government was not involved in this decision.
The Emmy-winning show is known for its well-researched episodes on various international issues including the 2014 General Elections of India.
The new episode can be still be viewed on YouTube and has garnered over five million views so far.
You can check out the episode here:
Political commentary by international artists have time and again come under scrutiny.
In 2019, comedian Hasan Minhaj’s show on Netflix, Patriot Act came under fire for its episode on the Loksabha Elections following which the comedian was banned from Modi’s political event in Texas.
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