Videos showing bizarre censorship of women’s sports on Iranian television have been circulating on social media for quite a while. In connection with the recent Olympic Games in Paris, these recordings have gained considerable popularity. They show women’s bodies clumsily covered by black asterisks, and the whole situation seems extremely absurd. In fact, this is a joke that’s more than 10 years old.
Satire / Joke
More about our rating system:Videos allegedly showing Iranian broadcasts have been circulating online for years. For example, they appeared on Facebook in 2016. Due to the then ongoing Olympic Games, they resurfaced again. They can be found, for example, on X platform. Based on the sheer number of comments and shares, some people were inclined to believe in the veracity of the clips.
An Iranian broadcast?
The recording in question has been circulating online for many years, so it cannot come from the broadcast of the Olympic Games in Paris. As it turns out, it also never appeared on Iranian television at all. Actually, the video was created as part of a satirical program on the channel TheONTENTV on YouTube. It was first published in 2013. The authors mocked Iranian officials for saying that women’s sports should not be watched. Instead of banning broadcasts, they jokingly proposed changing the format and using black asterisks to cover unwanted parts of women’s bodies. Clips from the video with the contestants blackened in a hilarious way then began to spread on the Internet. As a result, they re-emerge from time to time on various networks or social media.
What do women’s sports broadcasts look like on Iranian television?
Women’s competitions are very rarely shown on Iranian television. Usually, the contestants do not meet the requirements regarding the outfit, hence such competitions are not covered. Sometimes the results and photos from the medal ceremonies are simply published. Combat sports are the most widely broadcast, as female athletes usually wear loose-fitting clothing covering almost the entire body, such as judogi. As long as the Iranian female contestant has her hair covered, the visible hair of the opponent is not a problem. Below you can see a photo from IRNA (Iran’s news agency) with a judoka, Maryam Barbat. There’s also a short film reporting on her preparations for the Olympic Games in Paris. On the video you can see how women’s competitions in this country are broadcast (if the sport is presented in the media at all).
Summary
The videos circulating online about the ridiculous censorship on Iranian television are actually a joke. The footage comes from a satirical YouTube channel mocking the country’s puritanical authorities. They have been circulating on social media for many years. In Iran, women’s competitions are usually not shown at all, with the exception of disciplines where athletes wear outfits that cover the whole body.
Sources:
AFP Factcheck: https://factcheck.afp.com/censorship-womens-sports-iranian-tv-likely-satirical-video
France24: https://observers.france24.com/en/20191004-did-iranian-tv-really-censor-these-women-runners
