Chinese fans of ‘Friends’ angry after show re-released with censorship

Chinese fans of the US sitcom "Friends" have expressed dismay online after noticing censorship in recently released episodes of the beloved show.

Several major Chinese streaming sites, including Tencent, Baidu's IQiyi Inc, Alibaba's Youku, and Bilibili started showing a version of the first season of the show on Friday, its first re-release in China for several years.

But fans soon noticed parts of the long-running show were different to what they had seen before and complained of censorship.

"I resolutely boycott the castrated version of 'Friends'," said one user on China's Twitter-like Weibo.

"This is a defiling a classic," said another.

A third user said "if you can't show the complete version under the current atmosphere, then don't import it."

The discussion was a "hot search topic" on Weibo on Sunday.

'Friends' has a vast fan base in China. Many watched it on pirated DVDs or downloads after the hit 10-season show first aired in the 1990s. (Reuters)