1st June, 2016
Livinus Acholonu
Last week’s announcement by MultiChoice that it was discontinuing I Am Cait, which showed on E! Entertainment on its DStv and GOtv platforms did not exactly come as a surprise because there was a precedent.
I Am Cait is an American television documentary series chronicling the life of former male athlete, Bruce Jenner, who famously became Caitlyn Jenner after a gender transition. The docu-series, which aired on E! (DStv Channel 124 and GOtv Channel 24) was taken off air on account of a barrage of complaints by the Nigerians public, which considered a TV series about a transgender person at variance with the country’s culture. Kudos to the pay-TV company for listening to the complaints of Nigerians.
But the series, curiously, does not contain violence, nudity or sex. These elements, if present, could have been blocked with parental control features on either of the two pay-TV platforms. It made me wonder why there was so much public opposition to it.
What I found surprising was the selectivity of Nigerians’ anger. I Am Cait, considered at odds with our social mores, is still showing on E!, which is also available on StarTimes Channel 157. A visit to http://www.startimes.com.ng/program/i-am-cait/ is proof of this. A call to the China-backed pay-TV provider (on 01-461888) will similarly confirm its availability.
Why is the docu-series offensive-if it really is-on a certain platform and considered not so on another? Is envy-of MultiChoice’s success-at the root of the matter?
The last question was provoked by Nigerians’ reaction to the hike in MultiChoice subscriptions by 20 per cent last year. StarTimes did same, twice within the same year by as much as 40 per cent, and not even a murmur was heard.
Last October, MultiChoice was forced to stop airing I Am Jazz, another transgender show from the TLC Entertainment (DStv 135) channel.
In the two instances, other African countries got shut out from viewing what Nigerians decided that they don’t want to watch.
This is because the remaining episodes of the two yanked shows had to be wiped from from E!, which has a single feed to DStv in Nigeria.
Effectively, this means that viewers in other countries where the E! Entertainment channel is carried are affected.
Acholonu, a public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos