Have you noticed that any mention of God on any of the DSTV channels is often bleeped out? That’s not all, wherever God is used in subtitles, it’s equally blanked out. I can’t recall when this became a trend on DSTV but it was while I was watching Eja Nla on Africa Magic Yoruba (dstv channel 157), the night of Tuesday April 26, that I got another rude reminder. One of the male characters Badmus Adekunle (Muyiwa Ademola) mentioned God as he was talking to his wife, Abimbola (Bimbo Oshin) but it was blanked out in the subtitle. Even though the audio was off, I could’ve sworn I saw his mouth bleep as it missed a beat.
DSTV obviously takes the feelings of its viewers very seriously. And would not want to expose them unduly to anything harmful. Like God? So where does the word ‘God’ fit into all that? Did some viewers or a group of viewers complain about the damaging effects of the word God? Is there a good explanation for DSTV deciding that the word God is a profanity? Why is it so offensive that viewers (and listeners) need to be protected from its harmful effects? Remember we are not talking about Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammed.
Meanwhile on the same platform there are all kinds of visually obscene musical videos that no one is blocking or attempting to block. As there are obscene words.
To be clear, I’m more curious than anything else about this God-blocking move by DSTV. I really would like to be enlightened. It isn’t the first time this sort of confusion would be happening. I recall how some years ago a DSTV channel rated a Nigerian christian musical video ’16, L’. I think it was Buchi’s music. But that wasn’t the most incredible part. It was the fact that during that same period, programmes like ‘The ‘L’ Word’ were rated either 13 or Family. I think Playboy Mansion was rated ‘Family’.
Can we hear from the good guys at Multichoice Nigeria? We the good viewers need an explanation about how God became a swear or vulgar word which we need to be protected from.
Onoshe Nwabuikwu
