Disney cancels Andi Mack, also known as 'that gay teen show that Africa couldn't cope with', after 3 seasons.

Disney has cancelled the groundbreaking series on the Disney Channel (DStv 303), Andi Mack, also known as "that gay teen show that Africa couldn't cope with".

The teen growing up-comedy series that was renewed for a third season in February 2018 has now been cancelled and will conclude with its current third season.

"Andi Mack was a labour of love for a room of impassioned, inventive writers, a talented and dedicated crew, and an extraordinary, miraculous cast who inspired us all," said show creator Terri Minsky in a statement Wednesday, that wasn't released through Disney in South Africa or Africa.

"We had the honour of breaking a lot of new ground for Disney Channel. We were its first serialized show, its first series centred around an Asian-American family and its first to feature an LGBTQ character who spoke the words, 'I'm gay'," said Terri Minsky.

"The best part of making Andi Mack was our audience, who let us know we mattered to them. The series finale is for them."

Gary Marsh, Disney Channel president, says "Three years ago, we challenged Terri Minsky to create a new series that expanded and broadened the Disney Channel brand. And so was born Andi Mack".

"We are forever grateful to Terri, her talented team and the outstanding cast, led by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, for delivering a meaningful and satisfying conclusion to three wonderful seasons of this brilliant series."

Andi Mack, filmed in Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States, was executive produced by Minsky and Michelle Manning, with Phil Baker as co-executive producer. Andi Mack was produced by Horizon Productions.

Andi Mack was notable when, during its second season, the character of Cyrus Goodman (Joshua Rush) one of the show's main characters, begain to realise that he was gay and in love with a male classmate. The season explored his journey to self-discovery and self-acceptance as a gay teenager.

Before the second season was broadcast in Africa and shortly after the gay character announcement, scandal erupted when Kenya's draconian censorship tsar, Ezekiel Mutua, who ordered the show banned on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service in Kenya.

"When it comes to protecting children from exposure to bad content we are resolute and unapologetic. Gay content will not air in Kenya, period," said Ezekiel Mutua in November 2017 in a statement.

Since the Disney Channel has only one channel feed into Africa the censorship, banning by the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) and the resulting brouhaha around Andi Mack meant that it became unavailable for not just DStv subscribers in Kenya, but also in South Africa and anywhere else in sub-Saharan Africa.

MultiChoice in South Africa, MultiChoice Africa, MultiChoice Kenya and The Walt Disney Company Africa all rolled over to appease the Kenya censorship board instead of standing up for artistic expression, freedom of speech and TV producers' creative rights (not to mention the telling of an important story that might resonate with some families and viewers) and went along with its misguided decree to ban the show in Kenya and across Africa without any of the companies speaking up or out about it.

Andi Mack actor Stoney Westmoreland fired by the Disney Channel after his arrest for trying to have sex with a 13-year old.

The Disney Channel (DStv 303) has fired the Andi Mack actor Stoney Westmoreland (48) after he was arrested for allegedly trying to arrange to have sex with a 13-year old.

Stoney Westmoreland who played Andi's grandfather Henry "Ham" Mack on the Disney Channel series allegedly tried to lure a 13-year old to a sex encounter who is the same age as the main characters in Andi Mack.

"Stoney Westmoreland, an actor working on the series Andi Mack, was arrested in Salt Lake City today," the Disney Channel said in a statement issued late Friday night in the United States.

"Given the nature of the charges and our responsibility for the welfare of employed minors, we have released him from his recurring role and he will not be returning to work on the series which wraps production on its third season next week."

Andi Mack is produced and filmed in Utah.

According to the Salt Lake City police department and the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force, Stoney Westmoreland was arrested after he communicated online with someone he believed was 13-years old, asked for the person to engage in sex acts including oral sex, and to send nude photos.

Stoney Westmoreland also sent pornographic photos. He was arrested when using a ride sharing service to pick up the 13-year old to bring the child to his hotel room "in order to engage in sexual activity".

Andi Mack on The Disney Channel, that DStv won't show in Africa or South Africa because Kenya banned it, renewed for a 3rd season.

Disney has renewed its hit tween series, Andi Mack, banned from MultiChoice's DStv in Africa and Africa, for a 3rd season.

Episodes of the third season of Andi Mack with Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Lilan Bowden, Joshua Rush, Sofia Wylie and Asher Angel will be broadcast later in 2018 in America.

Filming on the 3rd season, produced by Horizon Productions, will start soon in Salt Lake City in America.

Disney says Andi Mack tells the heartwarming, diverse coming-of-age story about the most important things in any young person’s life - life and friends, and the journey of self-discovery.

"A series about a girl discovering that her sister is really her mother was new territory for Disney Channel, but Terri’s honest, authentic storytelling allowed our audience to connect deeply to these characters and their journeys of self-discovery," says Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer, Disney Channels Worldwide.

"What she has crafted stands as a high-water benchmark for kids and family storytelling around the world."

That's of course not true for Africa where Andi Mack is banned from being broadcast with MultiChoice that rolled over for the Kenya censorship board and is going along with its misguided decree to ban the show in Kenya and across Africa on The Disney Channel (DStv 303).

Africa's censorship problem of TV and film keeps expanding and growing due to the lack of public push-back against misguided African censorship boards who have become more and more emboldened in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa as they ban more and more content from being seen, instead of simply classifying it with proper parental guidance advisories.

After it's been in cinemas for weeks already in South Africa, South Africa's misguided Film and Publication Board (FPB) suddenly reclassified the film Inxeba as X18 last week - the same as hardcore pornography, although it contains none - without giving any reasons.

The FPB, funded by South African tax payers' money, now refuses to answer specific media enquiries about the exact reasons why the award-winning film suddenly got given a new classification months after it was given another one.

The multiple award-winning film that has a gay storyline - South Africa's official entry to the 90th Academy Awards and that made the top 9 shortlist in the Best Foreign Film category - has now effectively been banned from being shown in cinemas.

Inxeba can't even be shown with that classification on channels like M-Net (DStv 101), e.tv or the SABC during its pay-TV window licensing and free-to-air broadcast run.

So far in 2018 no further additional TV shows have been banned in Africa but Kenya's dictatorial government did shut down several entire TV channels who were slapped with a censorship blackout before they could broadcast the symbolic inauguration ceremony of opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Kenya bans Disney Channel show Andi Mack from DStv for the entire African continent, including South Africa.

In Africa's growing TV censorship problem Kenya has banned the Disney Channel's (DStv 303) tween series Andi Mack, making it the latest TV series that MultiChoice says won't be broadcast on DStv - not just in Kenya but blocked for the whole of Africa.

MultiChoice and Disney won't broadcast Andi Mack in Kenya or anywhere else in Africa - including South Africa - following news that the show will introduce a gay story line.

The Kenya move is effectively blocking the show from being broadcast anywhere on the continent, including countries like South Africa, since the Disney Channel (DStv 303) has only one channel feed into the continent.

Andi Mack is the latest show getting banned on the continent after last week's announcement that a main character will come out as gay, with Disney telling TVwithThinus that Andi Mack won't be broadcast on DStv.

Over the past two years especially Nigeria and Kenya's censorship boards have been ramping up bans on TV shows.

With distributors often only providing one satellite channel feed into Africa for their channels – for instance Disney Channel – a block and ban of a show for one country means its taken off air for the entire continent even in countries where content are not censored.

The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) banned Andy Mack, with KFCB boss Ezekiel Mutua saying "any attempt to introduce gay programming in Kenya will be met with the full force of the law".

"When it comes to protecting children from exposure to bad content we are resolute and unapologetic. Gay content will not air in Kenya, period."

Pay-TV operator MultiChoice running the DStv service that carries Disney Channel (DStv 303) in Africa says in a statement "MultiChoice has consulted its channel provider, Disney and would like to confirm that this show was not scheduled to air on any of the Disney channels on DStv".

The Walt Disney Company Africa in response to a media enquiry from TVwithThinus says "Andi Mack will not be broadcast through DStv, however we are exploring alternative ways to make the series available to its fans in South Africa".

Disney says that "while our shows are developed for global audiences we are committed to respecting each market’s cultural sensibilities, compliance rules and regulations. Disney Channel in South Africa serves multiple countries across Africa and the Middle East, each with its own regulations to which we adhere". 

In June Kenya's KFCB - using completely bogus reasons culled from fake internet stories and saying the animation shows are "pro gay" - banned The Loud House, Legend of Korra and Hey Arnold from being shown on Viacom International Media Networks Africa's Nickelodeon channel on DStv.

It means it's not watchable for anyone in Africa.

Star vs the Forces of Evil and Gravity Falls from Disney XD (DStv 304), as well as Adventure Time and Steven Universe from Turner Broadcasting’s Cartoon Network (DStv 301) channel in Africa were also banned.

In July 2016 VIMN Africa said it would censor and not broadcast an episode of The Loud House featuring gay dads on DStv in any country following complaints in Africa.

In May 2016 NBCUniversal International Networks was forced to pull the second season of I Am Cait from E! for the entire Africa after a sudden TV-ban in Nigeria.

In October 2015 Discovery Networks International was forced to remove the transgendered docu-series I Am Jazz from TLC for the whole continent, also following a Nigeria-ordered ban.

Disney Channel to make history with first gay main character as Cyrus Goodman in tween show Andi Mack is set for a gay storyline.

In a dramatic first for The Disney Channel (DStv 303), it will have a main character come out as gay in the tween show Andi Mack in a move that could spell potential trouble for MultiChoice's DStv and the kids channel in Africa.

The Disney Channel, available in South Africa and throughout Africa on DStv's satellite pay-TV platform, will soon break new ground with its first gay storyline and a main character going through a journey of self-discovery of his sexuality.

In Andi Mack, the 13-year old main character Cyrus Goodman, played by Joshua Rush (15) will be coming out to his friends as gay, starting the storyline from the first episode of Andi Mack's second season.

Subsequent episodes will follow Cyrus' ongoing story, that will include wrestling with how to tell his new girlfriend Iris that he is actually falling in love with Andi's boyfriend, Jonah (Asher Angel).

"Andi Mack is a story about tweens figuring out who they are," says The Disney Channel in a statement announcing the news.

"Creator Terri Minsky, the cast and everyone involved in the show takes great care in ensuring that it's appropriate for all audiences and sends a powerful message about inclusion and respect for humanity."

The Walt Disney Company says "Disney remains committed to continuing to create characters that are accessible and relatable to all children."

"For more than 90 years, The Walt Disney Company has been home to some of the world's most beloved characters and cherished stories."

"The Disney brand has always been inclusive, with stories that reflect acceptance and tolerance and celebrate the differences that make our characters uniquely wonderful in their own way."

"We constantly strive to live up to that legacy by continuing to create and share compelling storylines from our studios and media networks that entertain with inspirational and aspirational themes and reflect the incredibly rich diversity of human experience."

The move could rile DStv subscribers in Africa where countries like Nigeria and Kenya have increasingly banned several general entertainment and kids shows they say are promoting a "pro gay" agenda.

These African nations over the past few months ordered MultiChoice Africa to immediately remove content deemed offensive from several carried TV channels - including Disney's Disney XD channel for instance, as well as shows on Turner Broadcasting Africa's Cartoon Network and Viacom International Media Networks Africa's Nickelodeon.

Since several of these channels have only one channel feed into Africa, the removal and banning of specific shows and content mandated by one country, means that it impacts the viewing and content available on linear broadcast channels to the entire sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa.