Skip to content

Canada's Business and Tech Newsroom

  • Professional Subscription
  • Partnerships & Advertising
  • Licensing & Syndication
Log In Subscribe
Welcome,
  • My Account
  • Log Out
  • Business
  • Tech
  • National
  • The Big Read
  • Briefings
  • Commentary
Search
Log In Subscribe
Welcome,
  • My Account
  • Log Out
Intelligence

[REDACTED] and chill

We all have our hang-ups. For Saudi Arabia, it’s comedy—particularly when aimed at its government. Last year, the Saudi government took umbrage with an episode of Netflix’s “Patriot Act” in which host Hasan Minhaj had a bit of fun with allegedly reformist Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s alleged role in the brutal murder and dismemberment of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. So the government asked Netflix to remove the episode from the menu in the country; Netflix obliged.

Intelligence

[REDACTED] and chill

By Martin Patriquin
Feb 7, 2020
A A
A Small A Medium A Large
Share

Share

We all have our hang-ups. For Saudi Arabia, it’s comedy—particularly when aimed at its government. Last year, the Saudi government took umbrage with an episode of Netflix’s “Patriot Act” in which host Hasan Minhaj had a bit of fun with allegedly reformist Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s alleged role in the brutal murder and dismemberment of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. So the government asked Netflix to remove the episode from the menu in the country; Netflix obliged.

Yet censoring troubling content isn’t only the purview of one of the most repressive governments on the planet. According to Netflix’s first-ever environmental social governance report on its “broader impact in society,” since 2015 the company has received requests from five governments to remove nine pieces of content—all of which Netflix complied with. 

Nor is Saudi Arabia the most prudish. That award goes to the government of Singapore, which wrote three times to the California streaming giant asking it to remove five pieces of content from the company’s Singaporean offerings. 

Among them was The Last Temptation of Christ, Martin Scorsese’s 1988 depiction of Jesus as a person who experiences a range of emotions, lust included. It also includes The Last Hangover, a Brazilian riff on The Hangover with Jesus as the guy who goes missing after a Last Supper-style night of debauchery. 

It isn’t clear why the Singapore government took offence to the titles; perhaps it was in deference to the country’s large Christian minority. Other Netflix no-nos in Singapore: Cooking on High, The Legend of 420 and Disjointed, all of which sing and/or smoke the praises of cannabis, illegal in the island city-state since 1870.

Liberal-minded Germany asked Netflix to remove Night of the Living Dead, the film version of which is banned in the country, along with several other iconic horror flicks. Even stranger: Germany isn’t exactly priggish when it comes to blood and guts, having helped invent the genre. 

In 2015, the New Zealand Film and Video Labeling Body asked Netflix to remove The Bridge, having classified the documentary about suicide and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge as “objectionable.” New Zealand has among the highest youth suicide rates in the developed world.

In 2017, Netflix complied with the Vietnamese Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information’s ask to remove Full Metal Jacket, Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 film that, coincidentally or not, humanizes (and brutalizes) American troops fighting in the Vietnamese war. 

Netflix says it will comply only with written requests from governments to remove content—and has pledged to continue to inform the viewing public of its compliance with any further such demands.

#Netflix

Sponsored Content

How to shift your workforce from AI experimentation to adoption

By Jessica Aftimus Rosa

The real-world economic offshoots of sovereign AI

By Deborah Aarts
Illustration of a plane flying above a mailbox

Increasing healthcare access across Canada

By Deborah Aarts
Paid promotional content

Loading...

Thanks for sharing!

You have shared 5 articles this month and reached the maximum amount of shares available.

Close
This account has reached its share limit.

If you would like to purchase a sharing license please contact The Logic support at [email protected].

Close
Want to share this article?

Upgrade to all-access now

Close
Gift the full article!

You have gifted 0 article(s) this month and have 5 remaining.

Copy link and gift
Copy Link
Email to a friend
Send Email
Gift on Social Media

Recipients will be able to read the full text of the article after submitting their email address. They will not have access to other articles or subscriber benefits.

Most Popular This Week

Two individuals stand facing each other inside a lit-up installation inside a bust room. Both people are holding smartphones.
News

The Maple 8’s Canadian pledges may do little for startups and scaleups

By Catherine McIntyre
Close up of Mark Carney in a black suit against a black backdrop, looking over his shoulder with an eyebrow raised.
News

Ottawa tries to deliver on Carney’s promise to build faster

By David Reevely
News

Canada’s landmark ESG case heads to a final decision

By Anita Balakrishnan
Prime Minister Mark Carney, wearing a dark suit and tie, stands at a wooden podium in a dark room. The silhouettes of audience members are visible in the foreground. In the background, there is a backdrop depicting a cloudy sky and mountains.
News

Carney wants $1T to flow into Canada. Small projects are still struggling to get financing

By Chaimae Chouiekh

In-depth, agenda-setting reporting

Great journalism delivered straight to your inbox.

An image of two docked icebreakers covered in snow and ice.
Commentary

Carmichael: What Finland can teach Canada about sleeping next to an elephant

By Kevin Carmichael

Briefing

Financing instability is slowing down Ottawa’s housing agency, CEO says

By Catherine McIntyre   |   Oct 2, 2026

Cleveland-Cliffs CEO says federal lawsuit would be a bad business decision for Canada

By Anita Balakrishnan   |   Oct 2, 2026

BoC shows off its new forecasting model, Prima

By Kevin Carmichael   |   Oct 2, 2026

Best business newsletter in Canada

Get up to speed in minutes with insights and analysis on the most important stories of the day, every weekday.

Exclusive events

See the bigger picture with reporters and industry experts in subscriber-exclusive events.

Membership in The Logic Council

Membership provides access to our popular Slack channel, participation in subscriber surveys and invitations to exclusive events with our journalists and special guests.

Recent Popular Stories

The Big Read

Cameco’s high-stakes bid to be Canada’s next nuclear champion

By Joanna Smith   |   Sep 23, 2026
A shot looking down the length of a tunnel with conduits along its sides and railroad-style tracks on its floor. There are two workers in the distance wearing hardhats and headlights and walking toward the camera.
News

Ottawa tries to deliver on Carney’s promise to build faster

By David Reevely   |   Sep 28, 2026
Close up of Mark Carney in a black suit against a black backdrop, looking over his shoulder with an eyebrow raised.
The Big Read

The professor trying to make Canada a supercomputer superpower

By Murad Hemmadi   |   Sep 30, 2026
A man stands at a chalkboard while looking at the camera. He has apparently written "It's not rocket science; it's quantum chromodynamics."
News

The Maple 8’s Canadian pledges may do little for startups and scaleups

By Catherine McIntyre   |   Sep 29, 2026
Two individuals stand facing each other inside a lit-up installation inside a bust room. Both people are holding smartphones.
News

Canada’s landmark ESG case heads to a final decision

By Anita Balakrishnan   |   Sep 25, 2026
News

Canada dodged the money-laundering ‘grey list’—but banks remain a weak spot

By Claire Brownell   |   Sep 29, 2026
A silhouetted person walks amid a row of buildings.

Canada's most influential executives and policymakers are reading The Logic

  • CPP Investments
  • Sun Life Financial
  • C100
  • Amazon
  • Telus
  • Mastercard
  • bdc
  • Shopify
  • Rogers
  • RBC
  • General Motors
  • MaRS
  • Government of Canada
  • Uber
  • Loblaw Companies Limited
logic-logo

Canada's Business and Tech Newsroom

100% human-crafted journalism

Newsroom

  • News Tips
  • AI Policy
  • Editorial Disclosures
  • Story Pitches

Company

  • About Us
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Statement
  • Corporate Information

Contact

  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • FAQs
  • Work at The Logic

© 2026 The Logic Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Trusted by leaders

Error

Account creation failed.

Please email us at [email protected].

Create Account

[wppb-register form_name=”cozmo-registration-form-for-modal”]

I do have an account
Login

The username or email you provided does not exist. Please try again.

or

[wppb-login]

I don’t have an account