Asian TV censors gay Oscar speeches

A Pan-Asian television network has been criticised for censoring two Oscar winners' speeches during a repeat of the awards ceremony.

Satellite channel STAR omitted the words "gay" and "lesbian" from the speeches made by Milk star Sean Penn and the film's writer Dustin Lance Black, despite them having been broadcast in full earlier.

Accepting his gong for best actor, Penn made reference to legalising gay marriage, while best screenplay winner Black paid tribute to "all the gay and lesbian kids out there".

Prominent Malaysian arts critic Pang Khee Teik blasted the move, saying: "As a gay man, I am truly offended. Stop censoring the words that describe who I am."

He added that cutting the words had "sent a message... that gays and lesbians are still shameful things to be censored from the public's ears".

STAR representative Jannie Poon insisted that there was no intention to upset viewers, but said that the network had a "responsibility to take the sensitivities and guidelines of all our markets into consideration".