MUMBAI: Chinese streaming sites have removed scenes featuring Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and BTS from the highly anticipated Friends’ reunion episode.

The celebrities are among a slew of stars who made guest appearances on Friends: The Reunion, released by HBO Max on Thursday.

Lady Gaga joined Lisa Kudrow in performing the character Phoebe Buffay’s classic song “Smelly Cat.” Justin Bieber showed up in Ross Geller’s iconic “Spudnik” costume. And K-pop band BTS expressed their love for the 1990s sitcom in an interview, with its leader RM saying he learned English by watching Friends.

I’m sorry but Lady Gaga can make Smelly Cat absolutely slap pic.twitter.com/V9DgdcJbso

— Liv Marks (@OliviaLilyMarks) May 27, 2021

But these scenes were nowhere to be found in the Chinese versions of the show that premiered on Thursday on Youku, iQiYi, and Tencent Video, three of the country’s largest streaming platforms.

It’s unclear if the censorship is ordered by the government, or the platforms have chosen to block the stars to mitigate political risks.

Tencent, iQiYi, and Alibaba, which owns Youku, did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

Lady Gaga has been banned from Chinese TV following her 2016 meeting with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who is labeled a separatist by the Chinese government.

Justin Bieber was also previously banned from performing in China, with authorities blaming his “bad behavior” in 2017. The Chinese authorities did not specify which of Bieber’s actions triggered the ban. Bieber was carried up the steps of the Great Wall when he performed in China in 2013. The following year, he posted an Instagram photo of himself visiting Japan’s controversial Yasukuni war shrine, which is regarded by Chinese people as a symbol of Japanese invasion during WWII. The singer later apologized for the image.