Spain apologizes for insulting show

The Spanish TV station Telecinco, or Tele 5, has once again broadcast a comedy show insulting the Chinese people. [Photo/Sina.com]

Late Chinese actor Wu Tianming awarded for role in micro film

Online TV programs boom amid control concerns

The Spanish TV station Telecinco, or Tele 5, has once again broadcast a comedy show insulting the Chinese people, following similar incidents last year and five months ago, Chinanews.com reported.

In a statement issued by the Embassy of Spain in China, the Embassy states that it "deeply regrets the discomfort provoked among the Chinese community by a fiction series aired on a private and independent TV station."

"The judgements expressed by the fictional character that appears in the show do not represent by any means the general opinion of the Spanish population towards Chinese residents, who are valued, respected and appreciated for their contributions to Spanish society," the official statement said.

In its latest program of the "AIDA" series on May 15, a Chinese person named "Wang" enters a Spanish bar, but a customer points at a signboard carrying the words "Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter." Then, wearing a pair of rubber gloves for cleaning toilets, the customer drives the Chinese out of the bar.

The show has evoked strong indignation among the local Chinese community, especially those in the restaurant business, who think the show has severely insulted the Chinese people. The character "Wang", who runs a food store, has been mocked in every episode of this program. The actor this time was reported to be a Japanese student.

It was not the first time that this particular TV station had provoked the Chinese community in Spain. Five months ago, it broadcast another comedy show that insulted the Chinese people and mocked the quality and service in Chinese restaurants.

The offending comedy, which went out on the privately owned Telecinco channel on New Year's Eve, showed a Spanish actor playing a hapless Chinese waiter. With a long braid and wearing a skullcap and Chinese costume, he jumped up and down and made all sorts of exaggerated gestures. What's more, the show implied the Chinese restaurant served dog and cat meat.

The local Chinese community immediately held an emergency meeting and submitted a letter of protest to the Tele 5 station. The Chinese Embassy in Spain also sent a letter of protest to the president and director of Tele 5, expressing strong condemnation and demanding an apology.