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.

Kenya abruptly bans Rafiki film from Wanuri Kahiu shortly before its Cannes Film Festival debut because the lesbian story contains kissing scenes.

Kenya's notorious censorship board has abruptly banned the film Rafiki, from Wanuri Kahiu, shortly before its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in two weeks' time as part of the growing censorship trend gaining momentum and sweeping the African continent from Nigeria to East Africa and South Africa.

Rafiki, meaning friend in Swahili, is based on the short story Jambula Tree by Uganda’s Monica Arac de Nyeko, and revolves around two girls who develop a romance that’s opposed by their families. The film has been included for screening in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.

The awkward banning by the East African country’s draconian Kenya Film Classificaion Board (KFCB) comes after Kenya earlier had effusive praise for the film and its inclusion in the Cannes Film Festival.

It’s similar to South Africa where the multiple award-winning film Inxeba was first lauded and congratulated by the South African government for making it to the top 9 in the Oscars’ foreign films category before suddenly falling silent with no support after it was banned with a new X18 classification by the South African Film and Publication Board (FPB) – a decision that was later overturned following an outcry by the public as well as the country’s writers, producers and organised TV and film industry.

Wanuri Kahiu who wrote, directed and co-produced the 80-minute film shot in Nairobi, told the breakfast show Morning Express on Kenya’s KTN channel on Friday morning that “unfortunately, our film has been censored in Kenya, because it deals with matters that are uncomfortable for the Kenya Film Classification Board but I truly believe that an adult Kenyan audience is mature and discerning enough to be able to watch this film and have their own conversation”.

Wanuri Kahiu said that her film is “a reflection of society, and we need to be having conversations about what is happening in our society. But unfortunately, because the film has been banned, we’ll be unable to have these conversations”. She said ” I’m incredibly disappointed, because I believe in Kenya.”

Earlier in April, Wanuri Kahiu in an interview on the Hot96FM radio station, said her film “speaks about our reality and the challenges our kids are facing and we’re trying to sweep it under the carpet and make it look like it’s not happening. Film and art should be a mirror of society and reflect on what’s happening with a view to offering solutions and guiding society to become better.”

In a televised speech, William Ruto, Kenya’s deputy president, warned that Kenyans are not only banned from watching censored films even privately, but that it is also against to law to even discuss “illegal material” once the KFCB have banned it.

Kenya’s censorship tsar, Ezekiel Mutua, in a statement said Rafiki is banned because it “legitimizes homosexuality” against the “values, cultures and beliefs of the people of Kenya” because “homosexual practices that run counter to the laws and the culture of Kenyan people”. He said “It is our considered view that the moral of the story in this film is to legitimize lesbianism in Kenya”. Rafiki contains scenes like kissing.

The embarrassing new ban will continue to drive both African and international producers, filmmakers and production companies away from Kenya and opting for other locations who are fearful that their projects, creativity, production budgets and freedom of expression are not welcome, nor respected and protected, in the East African country.

In November Ezekiel Mutua banned the teenage show Andi Mack from the Disney Channel (DStv 303) because one of the characters is gay. 

In June 2017 the KFCB – citing utterly bogus reasons culled from conspiracy theiry sites – banned The Loud House, Legend of Korra and Hey Arnold from Viacom International Media Networks Africa’s Nickelodeon (DStv 305), 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) because of “gay” content.

None of the content reasons given by the KFCB for the bans for any of these shows are true. 

However, because these channels have only one channel feed into Africa, it means that Naspers’ MultiChoice and individual channel distributors, in order to remove the content for Kenya, have been forced to remove the content for DStv subscribers across the entire Africa, including countries like South Africa.

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.

RIDICULOUS. The mind-boggling reasons Kenya's censor board gives for why it banned cartoons on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney XD on DStv.

The outright ridiculous reasons are now surfacing as to why Ezekiel Mutua, the censorship tsar of Kenya's censorship board, last week abruptly banned 7 cartoons on Nickelodeon (DStv 305), Disney XD (DStv 304) and Cartoon Network (DStv 301) for being "pro-gay".

The bisarre reasons provided by Kenya's Film Classification Board (KFCB) it seemingly took straight from the internet without having actually watched and screened the various kids cartoons, are mind-bogglingly insane and shockingly unbelievable.

Ezekiel Mutua, KFCB CEO, told MultiChoice Africa the 7 cartoons singled-out, must be off the air on the DStv and GOtv satellite pay-TV platforms over seemingly-insane reasons, ranging from one character "who has a dick for a head", to two characters who go on an (unseen) "implied romantic vacation".

While on a superficial level Kenya's censorship and banning of kids cartoons might seem silly, it has systemic and operational real-world consequences for South African and African TV viewers far beyond the borders of the East African country.

Since channel distributors often only has one TV channel broadcast feed for Africa, a ban of content on a channel in one country, like Kenya or Nigeria - that a channel distributor then must agree to - means one of two things.

Either the whole channel must be completely blocked and be made unavailable in the affected country, or the content deemed offensive on the TV channel must be removed from the linear broadcast schedule.

Since there's only one similar channel feed for more than one country, this means that the content is taken away not just from viewers in the country affected, but from millions of DStv subscribers right across several African countries, including South Africa.

I asked the KFCB when the censor board saw the actual shows to properly evaluate their content since the majority of the now-banned shows are not even being broadcast on the various channels across DStv at the moment anyway.

The KFCB failed to answer when the 7 cartoons were actually broadcast and watched by the board and responded to the question in a non-sensical fashion by saying, in part, that broadcasters must "ensure that Kenyan identity is developed and maintained in programmes" and that they "observe standards of good taste and decency".

The 7 cartoons are now abruptly banned, with the KFCB's shocking censorship that is creating problems for not just MultiChoice and DStv, but also the channel and content providers Walt Disney Africa, Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) and Turner Broadcasting EMEA that respectively run and programme the Disney XD, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network channels.

Some of the cartoons are not even airing anymore and ended years ago - for instance the now-banned The Legend of Korra that finished its run in 2014.

Yet it seems as if the KFCB, on an apparent gay hunt, did a basic desktop Google-search to find possible justification for a ban on the shows, and then decided to ban them based on what the internet sites it visited, said.

Responding to a media enquiry from TVwithThinus, the KFCB says the 7 cartoons -  Loud House, The Legend of Korra, Hey Arnold, Clarence, Steven Universe, Adventure Time and Star vs the Forces of Evil are TV children programmes "with homosexual themes".

The KFCB says it doesn't matter that the shows don't include or show any overt on-screen "gayness".

If a show's creator said a character is gay - in the way that JR Rowling after the conclusion of the Harry Potter series said that Prof Dumbledore is gay - that is enough for Kenya's censors to order a ban on a kids cartoon on MultiChoice's DStv platform.

The KFCB was specifically asked why content is banned that's not even being aired and isn't on-air currently.

The KFCB says its "investigations focused on both current and previous programmes that are not suitable for children. The fact that some of the programmes are 'no longer airing' does not negate the fact that they are unsuitable for children". 

The KFCB - that said it banned the cartoons because it believes that the Nickelodeon, Disney XD and Cartoon Network shows "are intended to introduce children to deviant behaviour" - was asked what this "deviant behaviour" is that it is referring to, and also how this children's programming is doing that.

The KFCB didn't offer up any explanation or clarity, and in response to the question says that it is "mandated to regulate film and broadcast content to protect children from exposure to inappropriate content. Promoting cultural and moral values through also constitutes our mandate."

The KFCB that said the cartoons are against its "understanding of the institution of family", was also asked what the KFCB's definition of family is and when this definition was decided upon.

The KFCB says Kenya's constitution "only recognizes marriage between people of the opposite sex. From these references to the Kenya Constitution 2010, it is clear that homosexuality is not part of the culture, national values and the concept of a family."

"Further, it is important to note that South Africa is the only African country that recognizes same sex marriages. Indeed, the Kenyan government has a responsibility to protect children against harmful exposure to negative media content and this is what the KFCB is doing as part of its mandate."

The KFCB provided the following reasons for why it banned each of the 7 cartoons on Nickelodeon, Disney XD and Cartoon Network: 

Provider	Channel	Programme	Description
DStv	Nickelodeon	Loud House	The animated TV show airs on weekdays between 11am and 3pm and features a married, inter-racial same-sex couple, Howard and Harold McBride parenting ten year old Clyde McBride. While the program does not make a big deal out of the fact that this couple is homosexual, we find that this is a veiled attempt by the creators of the show to pass off this kind of relationship as normal.  The homosexual couple debuted on the show in July 2016 in an episode dubbed “Overnight Success” in supporting roles but they have continued to constantly feature in the show that Nickelodeon has rated 7+.
GOtv	Nickelodeon	Loud House
DStv & GOtv	Disney XD	Star Vs the Forces of the Evil	A gay couple share a kiss in one of the episodes of the animated program in the children’s network. In yet another episode, two lesbian couples are seen cuddling.
Dstv	Nickelodeon	Legend of Korra	The creators of the program state that the star and her co-star both of who are female cartoons are a lesbian couple. In one scene they are seen walking through a portal into the spirit world for an implied romantic vacation.
DStv	Cartoon Network	Adventure time	The creator reveals that two main characters, Princess Bubblegum and vampire Marceline are in a gay relationship.
DStv	Cartoon Network	Steven Universe	The show depicts two lesbian couples Ruby and Sapphire and Pearl and Rose Quartz.  The creator of the show explains the reason as to why she put gay characters in the series is that you can’t wait for children to grow up to let them know that queer people exist.
DStv	Disney XD	Gravity falls	The jokes in the cartoons are adult oriented for example one cartoon calls the other ‘bitch’, porn watching and gay cops.
DStv	Nickelodeon	Hey Arnold	Arnold is taught the wonders of sexual stamina and given stories about sex. Arnolds grandpa had a dick for a head – head is in the shape of a penis and somewhere in the scene there is a poster written "try my sausage".

Loud House

The KFCB is so uninformed that it missed the announcement of self-censorship by VIMN Africa in mid-2016 when Viacom International "assured" DStv subscribers that it won't be broadcasting on television anywhere in Africa the "Overnight Success" episode on the Nickelodeon channel featuring the flash-appearance of two gay dads.
The KFCB has now banned the Loud House series over an episode that was never even broadcast in Kenya in the first place.

Star vs the Forces of Evil

It's strange that the KFCB would ban a cartoon it couldn't possibly have seen yet.
Disney XD just started showing the second season of the show on the channel across Africa and is now at episode 8. It will be quite a while before episode 20, "Just Friends", makes it to actual TV screens that does contain a fleeting kiss - if you know where to pause and look closely in the background.

Legend of Korra

The KFCB decided to ban The Legend of Korra since the creator, after the conclusion of the show in 2014, said that two characters are lesbian. Yet nothing romantic during the duration of the show was ever shown on-screen.

Legend of Korra is banned although it isn't even showing on Nickelodeon currently.

Adventure Time

The KFCB decided to ban Adventure Time on fake reasons and alleges that "the creator said the two main characters are in a gay relationship".
Not only are Princess Bubblegum and Marceline not the main characters as the KFCB alleges, but the creator, Pendleton Ward, has never said anything to that effect ever.

The closest is actress Olivia Olsen voicing the character of Marceline, at a book signing, who said that in her personal opinion Marceline is likely lesbian but that the show will never venture into that territory since "in some countries where the show airs, it's sort of illegal".

Steven Universe

The KFCB found a correct quote from an interview with the website Movie Pilot with the show's creator. Ruby and Sapphire are indeed lesbians, according to the show's creator, but viewers will have to watch the show with that specific subtext to see that.
The KFCB however seems to read a lot of fanfiction. Is Pearl and Rose gay? Nobody knows for certain and the show has never said that.

Gravity Falls

Explaining why it banned this cartoon, the KFCB again lies and says a character calls someone "bitch". Nobody says this to another character and the word is never spoken. 

What happens is that a character called Grunkle Stan once says "son of a ..." before the scene cuts away.

The KFCB also lies when it says the characters watch porn. It's never happened.

The show also finished in 2016 already. Like The Legend of Korra, the show's creator, after the conclusion of the series, said Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durand are gay, although its never ever mentioned or explored in the show.

Hey Arnold

The KFCB says "Arnold is taught the wonders of sexual stamina and given stories about sex". Nowhere in the series does that ever happen.

As proof of these and other simply not there things, the KFCB seems to have found a website that tries to find so-called "dirty jokes" in the cartoon.

The KFCB says Arnold's grandpa "had a dick for a head – head is in the shape of a penis and somewhere in the scene there is a poster written 'try my sausage".

To see a penis you have to take a pen and draw on grandpa's face in just the right way to create a penis, and you won't believe how a penis will then pop out. It's real, definitive proof according to the KFCB that Hey Arnold isn't meant for children.

Luckily Hey Arnold isn't even on Nickelodeon currently, so the KFCB didn't have to bother to watch actual episodes before banning the cartoon.

The KFCB didn't ban the evil Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, those anthropomorphic turtles who are luring unsuspecting kids to go live in the sewers, or The Powerpuff Girls where Donny the transgender pony who isn't horny believes that he's actually a unicorn - but it's probably just a matter of time.