The contentious relationship between China and Korea over the deployment of THAAD has seemingly made its way over into the entertainment world in the most overt way possible thus far. There were rumors of an unofficial ban being handed down before, ones that were refuted publicly by a government official, but now SBS‘s ‘The Show‘ has reportedly been suspended indefinitely in China due to the unofficial Korean entertainment ban.
the show据说是因为不可抗拒的政治原因在中国停播几周?,今天中国看不到直播粉丝也不用投票了。这垃圾节目早点停吧
— YinVikki (@vikkiyincn) November 29, 2016
"The Show has been suspended in China because of political issue. There is no broadcast and no poll today." https://t.co/jHMskO2LQc
— eos1d3 (@eos1d3) November 29, 2016
@eos1d3 Additional information: "No broadcast of The Show in China at least some weeks." It's said to be related to Korea ban order in China
— eos1d3 (@eos1d3) November 29, 2016
At the moment, the reports are just coming in from Chinese fans, but they would likely know about the status of the show as they try to vote and stuff before the news trickles down to Korean news outlets.
—–
As far as I know, there’s still no official announcement of a Korean entertainment ban in China, and I think that’s probably to the advantage of China as they can thus selectively enforce whatever they want. However, it’s quite clear that something’s going on here.