DJ Zedd Claims He Was ‘Permanently Banned From China’ For Liking a South Park Tweet

(TMU) – High-profile DJ and music producer Zedd has been permanently banned from China after liking a tweet from the official twitter account of the animated comedy show South Park, CNBC reports.

The network verified the ban on Saturday.

The 30-year-old Russian-German DJ, who was born Anton Zaslavski, tweeted the news out to his millions of social media followers of Friday after he was told that he was allegedly declared persona non grata in the ‘People’s Republic of China’.

However, it remains unclear if Zedd has a complete travel ban to the country. His music still remained available on Chinese streaming music platform QQ Music, but his publicist insists that he is banned from the country.

I just got permanently banned from China because I liked a @SouthPark tweet.

— Zedd (@Zedd) October 10, 2019

Adam Guest, senior entertainment publicist at U.K.-based SATELLITE414 agency, said:

 “This is true, yes, but we don’t have any more info to give you at this time.”

South Park has long mocked the 5,000-year-old country. In the 300th episode of the series titled “Shots!!!,” the cartoon blasted Beijing, saying “Fuck the Chinese Government” after the show’s online presence was entirely wiped from the internet.

In the episode “Band in China,” the show also takes the country’s strict censorship to task while ridiculing U.S. companies who do business in the world’s second-largest economy despite widespread allegations of the country’s human rights abuses.

Southpark has written their official apology to China and it is everything you dreamed it would be. pic.twitter.com/gBmHpKpT0v

— Quid Pro Josie ™ (@TRHLofficial) October 7, 2019

South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have described themselves as libertarians, a school of thought advocating less interference from government and a free hand being given to business, while the People’s Republic of China was birthed in 1949 as a socialist state governed through a single-party rule, ‘The Communist Party of China’, which controlled most of the economy until the “reform and opening-up” period ushered in through market reforms during the 1980s.

The creators received an award from liberal organizations like People for the American Way, but South Park have also been hilariously blamed for helping assist the rise of the so-called “alt-right” neo-fascist and white supremacist subculture.

The ban on Zedd comes as various anti-China activists have demanded that U.S. businesses pull back from dealing with China given Beijing’s heavy demands revolving around the control of free speech.

The current controversy arose when Daryl Morey, the manager of the Houston Rockets NBA team, tweeted in support of Hong Kong protesters by demanding greater autonomy from the central government. The message was quickly deleted, and the NBA then issued an apology that was lambasted by U.S. lawmakers. NBA commissioner Adam Silver later stressed his support for Morey’s right to express his opinion in comments that provoked strong criticism from Chinese media outlets.

Apply has also angered Beijing for allowing an app in its App Store that allowed Hong Kong protesters to detect the police’s location. Following pressure, the company removed the app from the App Store.

By Elias Marat / Creative Commons / TheMindUnleashed.com