In a special Valentine's Day episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show with US President Barack Obama made a number of pro-LGBT comments. It was broadcast in the US on February 12. On February 23 it aired on Singapore Mediacorp's Channel 5, with the segment including his comments on LGBT removed.
In the section removed, Obama comments: "As much as we've done with laws and ending 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', et cetera, changing hearts and minds - I don't think anybody has been more influential than you on that."
He says to the US host, who is an LGBT ambassador, "You being willing to claim who you were, that suddenly empowers other people. And then suddenly, it's your brother, it's your uncle, it's your best friend, it's your co-workers. And then attitudes shift. And the law is followed, but it started with folks like you. I'm so proud of you."
The fact that the Singapore version of the episode had been doctored was quickly seized upon by netizens.
Pink Dot Singapore, which organizes an annual event to support LGBT equality, shared a video clip of the interview with President Obama on the Ellen Show on its Facebook page.
They said "Because of local regulations which prohibit the positive portrayal of LGBTs in Singapore, clips such as these are routinely censored. This is unfortunate because it deprives the average Singaporean of opportunities to understand and discuss LGBT issues. If it is indeed true that President Obama‘s words were censored, it is another lost opportunity to engaging with the public on the misconceptions surrounding LGBT people."
Mr Lee Hung Sheng, assistant vice-president of programming for Mediacorp Channel 5, told The Straits Times that the American leader's speech was cut.
He said: "In compliance with Singapore's Free-To-Air TV programme guidelines, the brief segment on Obama's firm endorsement and support of gay rights issues was edited out for our broadcast on Channel 5.
"The removal of the segment did not pose any continuity issues with our televised programme."
Channel 5 and other TV channels in Singapore were previously fined up to S$15,000 (US$10,600) for broadcasting LGBT-related content.
Watch the censored section of the interview below: