MOSCOW, July 9 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian TV channel cut a segment containing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin from its broadcast of the U.S. South Park cartoon, a Russian news agency said on Thursday.
In the episode, which was broadcast on the 2X2 adult cartoon TV channel on Tuesday, a scene in which one of the show's main characters, Kyle, makes a telephone call to then president Putin asking for help to send a whale to the moon was cut, Novy Region reported. Putin decides that the call is a joke by U.S. leader George Bush and curses him before slamming down the phone.
The agency suggested however that the channel's decision to remove the segment was an internal decision.
The 2X2 channel was charged in March 2008 with "promoting immorality and violence" and "overt propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia" in September 2008. It received warnings in both cases, and despite fears it would cease broadcasting altogether its license was extended for five years last October.
A week after being warned about its "extremist" content, 2X2 temporarily stopped broadcasting 12 cartoons, including South Park and The Simpsons.
Hundreds of cartoon fans staged rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 2008 to show their support for the channel.
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