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what if trump got SNL cancelled because it is “slandering, humiliating and defaming”? outrageous?
welcome to hong kong. “headliner” got cancelled by the hk police and gov last week.
in an avalanche of bad news, i want to take a moment to pay tribute to headliner. [thread]
welcome to hong kong. “headliner” got cancelled by the hk police and gov last week.
in an avalanche of bad news, i want to take a moment to pay tribute to headliner. [thread]
some background: “headliner” is a political satire show that airs on rthk, our public broadcaster. there are five episodes left after the decision to cancel it.
what follows are some translated excerpts of an interview with the main actor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYrijT_E_xY">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
what follows are some translated excerpts of an interview with the main actor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYrijT_E_xY">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
"we originally didn& #39;t even want to do these five episodes... because it would be so hard to do."
"slander, humiliate, defamation — even in our dreams these words haunt us. how can we do [a political satire show] in a way that is not slandering, humiliating and defaming?"
"slander, humiliate, defamation — even in our dreams these words haunt us. how can we do [a political satire show] in a way that is not slandering, humiliating and defaming?"
"yesterday, we held a meeting to discuss the overall direction, and today, the finer details. after a long discussion, we realized, we simply can& #39;t worry too much. we just have to do what we usually do. no holding back, just do it."
“part of me was really surprised [by their decision to cancel]. according to the Television Rules/Regulations, there are certain "social status" groups in hong kong that shouldn’t be ridiculed or satirized.”
"the ruling now decided that the police are part of these groups with “social status”. so are you telling me that the police are in the same group as people with different sexual orientations, physical and mental disabilities — these groups that deserve protection? seriously?"
“in the last thirty years, we’ve ridiculed many in power. tung chee hwa [former hk chief executive] lambasted us as being ‘low entertainment.’ even when the person with the most power was unhappy with us, our show stood tall.”
“until today. why is it that when we ridicule the police now, this happened? it wasn’t that we couldn’t criticize the police thirty years ago. only in 2019-2020 can we not criticize them. this is really dangerous.”
“if we accept this ruling, everyone who works in media — writing, speaking, filming — as long as it involves the police, then bad things will happen. it’s a red line. we wouldn’t have died so fast, if we hadn’t stepped on this line.”
“in a civilized society, anyone with power, featured in a political satire show, has one job: be tolerant.
but to declare: ‘no, you are not allowed to speak anymore. if you continue to speak, i will destroy you’ this is not a civilized society, this is what a savage, autocratic government does.”
“[this show] used to bring me joy. back then, things were absurd, funny and deserved to be laughed at. you could ridicule and satirize the authorities. but back then I didn’t see blood and violence, didn’t see young folks being beaten up, didn& #39;t hear really horrible rumors.”
“for the past ten months, even thinking about all this hurts. every time I see the news, I get worked up, i can’t sleep. i have tried to transform my pain these past ten months into humor.”
“it is much easier to talk about it seriously, then cry after. but to talk about it, process it, digest it, and then turn it into a joke, and then have to film it? that’s not fun at all.
“so for a while I thought about quitting. I felt like I was getting sick, my emotions couldn’t jump from being very sad to forcing myself to laugh. I couldn’t stand it. but the feedback from the audience is, & #39;thank god we have headliner.& #39;”
“‘I can be depressed for six days, but at least one day in the week, I get to laugh on the seventh day. that’s not bad, right?’ so that’s why I continue doing what I do.”
watch the full video of the interview on 毛記電視 TVmost’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYrijT_E_xY">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
watch episodes of "headliner" (in cantonese) here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuwJy35eAVaJS6yf7ne6m61lR5_-N1nrR">https://www.youtube.com/playlist...
