Nickelodeon Africa Removes "The Loud House", "The Legend Of Korra" & "Hey Arnold!" From Schedules Due To Homosexuality Controversy

Following the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) "banning" several children's television shows, including Nickelodeon's The Loud House, The Legend of Korra and Hey Arnold!, as the organisation, and sadly I'm not making this up, has ridiculously ruled that the shows "promote homosexuality", Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa has announced that they are unfortunately suspending broadcasts of all three shows from Nickelodeon and Nicktoons' schedules.

Below is Multichoice's, a leading telecommunications company in Africa, full statement regarding the homosexuality controversy issue, via Ghana News:

CHILDREN’S TV PROGRAMMES ON NICKELODEON, NICKTOONS AND CARTOON NETWORK

Multichoice takes pride in ensuring that we comply with the law in all Jurisdictions that we operate in and are mindful that culture is the foundation of the nation as family values underpin the society.

In tandem with our internal quality control measures, we also ensure all third party suppliers are adequately briefed on country specific regulatory requirements and provisions. MultiChoice has therefore contacted the Channel Suppliers on the various recent complaints made against the Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Nicktoons channels with regards to their programming and wish to clarify as below:
Turner with regards to the Cartoon Network channel:

“With respect to the issues raised by customers, we ensure our channels and programming are suitable for children and do not contain the content and messages unsuitable. In Africa, as in all markets, we always seek to be respectful of local laws, cultures and sensitivities and, in some instances, this means we do show amended versions of US original series. We constantly review feedback from our audiences to ensure that this is the case and this is a responsibility that we take extremely seriously.”

Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa response on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons channels:
“We acknowledge the concerns expressed by customers. While we explore a variety of options, we will suspend the shows in question in Africa. Although, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa and Nickelodeon Africa are committed to diversity and inclusiveness, VIMN also respects the varied cultures and regulatory codes of the markets in which we operate.”

--Ends--
The homosexuality-in-children's-programming controversy in Africa is sadly nothing new. Last year, Nickelodeon Africa had to censor The Loud House episode “Overnight Success”, in which Lincoln’s best friend Clyde is dropped off for a sleepover by his two dads, Harold and Howard McBride, due to the same issues. Although the episode didn't air on television, Nickelodeon made the episode available to watch online on nickelodeonafrica.com and on the South Africa-based DStv Catch Up.

H/T: RegularCapital; Additional sources: OkayAfrica, Google.co.uk.

---

Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon Africa News and Highlights!