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'Friends: The Reunion' -

The 'Friends' reunion was a hotly anticipated night in TV around the world, but not everyone got to see the same show. In China, appearances by guest stars Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and BTS were cut from different versions of the streamed show on three Chinese video platforms, Deadline reports. Since the censored clips varied, many believe those decisions were made at the platform level. But why? 

It turns out they're holding grudges ever since Lady Gaga met with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, since Justin Bieber posted a photo of the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo honoring Japan's war dead, and since BTS irked the government for not mentioning China's Korean War sacrifices. But that means fans didn't get to see Lady Gaga's 'Smelly Cat' duet with Lisa Kudrow, or BTS's nostalgic recollections of watching the show, or Bieber's appearance dressed as "Spudnik." 

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'Game of Thrones' - Chinese censors cut six minutes—including key scenes—from the highly anticipated 'Game of Thrones' season 8 premiere, and fans were not happy. Since the whole HBO channel has been banned and the series was streamed exclusively on a single platform, China has the power to decide what people see and don't see.

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'Game of Thrones' - Chinese fans say the country sanitized the action and excitement by cutting out a violent but integral scene showing a message from the White Walkers, as well as a sex scene with Bronn.

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'Patriot Act' - Netflix dropped an episode of Hasan Minhaj's show from Saudi Arabia after a complaint from the kingdom. The episode, titled 'Saudi Arabia,' criticized the country's handling of the death of Jamal Khashoggi.

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'Family Guy' - In addition to having episodes censored in various places, 'Family Guy' was banned in Venezuela.

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'South Park' - 'South Park' is another well-known controversial cartoon. According to the Independent, Russia even banned an episode for making fun of President Vladimir Putin.

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'The Simpsons' - It's almost impossible to talk about controversial shows without mentioning 'The Simpsons.' Several countries have banned various episodes of the animated show.

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'Modern Family' - Specific versions of the show were produced for countries that didn't want to explore gay themes, with Chile being one of them.

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'The Big Bang Theory' - The series was very successful in China, but it was suddenly banned without a clear reason, the Huffpost reports.

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'Power Rangers' - In Malaysia, the term 'morphin,' used by the characters to gain superpowers, is a reference to morphine. The show was therefore banned, according to CNN.

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'Sex and the City' - The show was banned in Singapore for portraying the sex lives of four friends. Years later, the ban was lifted, the BBC reports.

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'Star Trek' - The 'Star Trek' crew intended to "boldly go where no man has gone before," but NBC was worried about an interracial kiss between William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols. Eventually, it was aired, after Shatner sabotaged an alternative take.

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'13 Reasons Why' - The original Netflix series caused controversy worldwide for exploring the story of a teen who takes her own life. New Zealand banned minors from watching it without adult supervision, The Guardian reports.

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'Peppa Pig' - Believe it or not, 'Peppa Pig' had its episodes removed from the Chinese video platform 'Douyin' for being considered "a subversive symbol of the counterculture," according to The Guardian.

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'Saturday Night Live' - The cast of this long-running sketch show has often battled with censors. During the '80s, it's said that four to five skits were cut from the script.

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'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour' - Richard and Thomas Smothers fought with CBS over their musical variety show. In one cancelled skit, which aired in 1967, they spoofed the censors themselves.

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'All in the Family' - 'All in the Family' starred Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, patriarch of a working-class New York family. Bunker is a problematic character, who fires off racial epithets that are edited out of modern day re-runs.

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'Dynasty' - In this soap opera, the character of Steven Carrington was written as a gay man. However, his gay lover was killed off, and he went on to have relationships with women.

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'TV Nation' - Michael Moore had a short-lived show during the summer of 1994. A handful of segments were cut from the show, which touched on taboo themes like abortion and birth control.

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'Late Show with David Letterman' - Back in 1994, Letterman interviewed Madonna. The songstress swore 14 times, pushing the limit of the FCC's censors.

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'The 2003 Golden Globes Awards' -

The broadcast of this award show was very controversial. Bono was a little too excited when he won a trophy, and fired off the f-bomb plenty of times.

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'Doctor Who' - Back in 2011, Chinese censors banned 'Doctor Who' because of its themes of time travel. Censors argued this was disrespectful to history, yet the ban was eventually lifted.

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'Heathers' - This show was delayed, after its mature themes related too closely to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

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'Hey Arnold!' - This Nickelodeon show was banned in Kenya, with censors saying it "glorif[ied] homosexual behavior." Yikes.

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'Manchester Prep' - 'Cruel Intentions' was a hit film, which led to the development of a TV show named 'Manchester Prep.' However, the show was cancelled, and footage was edited into a film, 'Cruel Intentions 2.'

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'If I Did It' - A television special based on O.J. Simpson was cancelled in 2006, before it even aired. The project would apparently explore a "hypothetical" reasoning for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

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'Escaping the KKK' - This documentary series didn't air, after it was cancelled by A&E. It was revealed that the show's producers paid KKK members to gain information, which violated A&E's policy.

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'Captain America: The Animated Series' - A cartoon series based on 'Captain America' was due to air in 1998, but was cancelled before it made it to the small screen. Though it seems to have had more to do with financial troubles than censoring, they reportedly had a few problems with Nazi-related references.

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'All My Babies' Mamas' - This reality show centered around the late Shawty Lo, and his 10 different baby mothers. The show was cancelled after public outcry regarding its themes.

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'Good Grief' - This docu-series focused on a mortuary in Texas, but was cancelled after unattended corpses were discovered, and the owner was arrested.

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'Yu-Gi-Oh!' - 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' is a children's show, but the original Japanese manga features very mature themes. The concept of the "Shadow Realm" was made up for western audiences, with characters actually dying in the original series.

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'Pokémon' - 'Pokémon' is another Japanese show which was sometimes censored in America. Sexual jokes were omitted from Western runs of the show.

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'Seinfeld' - 'Seinfeld' was a great success, but also featured some controversies. One episode, 'The Puerto Rican Day,' was omitted from re-runs of the show.

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'The X-Files' -

One episode, 'Home,' was very controversial after it featured themes like inbreeding. It was banned from re-runs on Fox, but fans have voted it as one of the series' best.

Check out these celebs who've been banned from other countries. 

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