China has blocked HBO’s website after comedian John Oliver made fun of its president, Xi Jinping, The New York Times reported Monday.
The Times, citing censorship monitor GreatFire.org, said consumers in China have not been able to view the cable channel’s internet content since Saturday.
Oliver, who hosts “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” on HBO, recently criticized China over its human rights record, according to the report.
{mosads}During a recent segment, Oliver also derided Xi for censoring Winnie the Pooh, which Chinese internet users have compared to their president.
“Clamping down on Winnie-the-Pooh comparisons doesn’t exactly project strength,” Oliver said. “It suggests a weird insecurity.”
The Chinese government had already tried to remove any mention of Oliver from Weibo, a Chinese microblogging platform, according to the Times.
HBO is generally not available through Chinese mainland cable and satellite providers, with exceptions at foreign compounds that have special access to HBO Asia. Oliver’s show is not available on HBO Asia.
HBO’s website in China doesn’t allow users to stream content in a manner similar to HBO Go in the U.S.