According to an astute observation made by New York Times on May 21, 2017, Singapore had apparently censored the second half of one episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The NYT wrote:

Nobody told me that the format of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" had changed, so imagine my surprise one recent afternoon when the credits appeared after only 30 minutes of dancing and funny videos.

The episode in question was aired in the United States on Monday, March 20, 2017.

The segment that was taken off air in Singapore featured actress Jane Fonda waving a vibrator and Orange Is the New Black star Asia Kate Dillon talking about her nonbinary gender identity, as these things are supposedly too taboo for locals.

However, the NYT article did not mention when the episode was aired in Singapore or whether it was on cable or free-to-air television.

The article, by Balli Kaur Jaswal, discussed if full deletion of scenes can ever be warranted, or if other unwieldy methods of censorship, such as pixelating specific areas of the screen, are, in fact, more transparent, as they at least serve to inform viewers what images have been suppressed.

None of these is new though, as Singapore press freedom and censorship are topics that get frequently brought up and dragged through the mud.

As recent as February 2017, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was grilled by Stephen Sackur on BBC HARDtalk.

Sackur asked PM Lee about Singapore's freedom of expression record and if Singapore was prepared to offer guarantees for press freedom:

Sackur: This is what Tim Farron, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK said, he said, “If we’re to seek a deal with Singapore, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, must raise issues of freedom of expression and freedom of the press in any trade talks with Singapore”. How do you respond to that?

LHL: I don’t see you being restrained in asking me any questions…

Sackur: No, I’m not but that’s not really the point is it?

The point is whether you would be prepared to offer guarantees on your treatment of the press at home, here in Singapore? Whether you would be prepared to talk about wider freedoms for the press in this country?

LHL: I would not presume to tell you how your press council should operate, why should you presume to tell me how my country should run? We are completely open, we have one of the fastest Internet accesses in the world — we have no great wall of the internet, you can get any site in the world you wish. So where’s the restriction?

In the spirit of being completely open and Singapore having high-speed Internet connection that brings information to the people without restrictions (according to PM Lee), here are the two deleted segments from The Ellen DeGeneres Show:

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You're welcome.

Related article:

PM Lee scores first on BBC ‘HardTalk’ trailer, but will he win the battle?

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