JioHotstar, the official streaming partner for HBO’s The White Lotus in India, seems to have censored parts of the first episode of the show’s third season.
The Mike White-scripted series satirises the lives of the wealthy on vacation at a fictional chain of high-end resorts. The first season aired in 2021 and was set in Hawaii, while 2022’s second season took place in Sicily. The third season moves the action to Thailand.
The first episode, which was released for streaming on Sunday, opens with spa manager Belinda Lindsey’s (Natasha Rothwell) son Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) taking a meditation lesson which devolves quickly into chaos as gunshots ring out.
Instead of hiding, Zion ventures into the hotel’s estate looking for his mother, and encounters a statue of the Buddha. He stops and says a quick prayer to Jesus to keep his mother safe, and then continues his search until, in true White Lotus form, a body floats by him.
At least, this is what most Indian viewers saw. However, social media posts from multiple users suggest that JioHotstar removed the first episode from the platform, and re-uploaded it a few hours later with one scene deleted.
As Zion searches for his mother, he comes back to the statue of the Buddha, and says: “What the f***? I said don’t let anything happen to my mother, motherf*****.”
The scene above was still present on Monday morning, but cannot be found in the episode currently streaming on JioHotstar.
“The first episode of The White Lotus S3 is heavily censored on JioHotstar. Looks like references to Buddha/Indra and nudity have been removed/edited. Tobacco warnings are displayed throughout,” wrote writer Deepansh Duggal on X.
Multiple social media posts also suggest that JioHotstar removed the episode for a few hours.
“Did JioHotstar release the latest episode of White Lotus and...remove it? I watched a couple of minutes of the new episode before work and when I came back to watch it during my lunch break...it's gone??? I didn't...imagine the whole thing right??” posted one user.
The Independent has reached out to a JioHostar representative to confirm if the episode was indeed re-uploaded and censored.
A fan commented on a Reddit thread discussing the deleted scene, writing: “I saw the episode early morning where this scene was present and now I rechecked after this post and it's not there. Welcome to Paternalistic India where one's wisdom is equated with a petulant child who can't distinguish between fact and fiction or between text and context, where everything is assumed offensive until proven otherwise zero critical thinking.
“This form of censorship doesn't augur well in my humble opinion.”
The new season also stars Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey as the wealthy Tim and Victoria Ratliff, with Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Sam Nivola playing their children. Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon and Leslie Bibb play three old friends reuniting for a vacation, while Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood play a couple. Tayme Thapthimthong and Blackpink’s Lisa round out the cast playing The White Lotus hotel staffers.
The latest season of The White Lotus has already earned rave reviews from critics, with The Independent’s TV critic Nick Hilton writing in a four-star appraisal: “Some will prefer Hawaii, some will prefer Sicily, but Thailand will have its own fans.
“What it shows is that The White Lotus is a franchise now so totally in command of its own appeal that it can be transferred anywhere.”
Before the £6.43bn merger that brought Disney+ Hotstar under Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL) to create JioHotstar, the platform was the official streaming partner for all HBO shows, like Game of Thrones, and has come under fire for censoring both TV series and films.
Last year, John Oliver made an episode of his Last Week Tonight available on websites titled oppositesnakes.com and howtoeatmangoes.com, and stated that he did so because he was unsure if the episode would air in India.
The episode in question focused on India’s general elections, the alleged rise of anti-Muslim sentiment, and censorship under prime minister Narendra Modi’s two-term tenure.
“So if this show does get taken down, and if you have friends or family living in India who’d like to see it, just encourage them to visit OppositeSnakes.com where they’ll find tons of fascinating facts on opposite snakes, as well as a 25-minute video titled ‘opposite snakes,’ which is, in fact, this entire story,” Oliver said.
Previously, a 2019 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which focused on Modi and former US president Donald Trump’s visit to India, was also removed. Bloomberg reported at the time that a representative for India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry had said the government wasn’t involved in the matter.
