Supreme Media Regulatory Council ends SNL broadcast

CAIRO - 11 February 2018: Egypt’s Supreme Media Regulatory Council decided on Sunday to stop the broadcast of the Comedy TV show, Saturday Night Live (SNL).

The Media Council said in a statement published Sunday, that the decision was based on the investigations held by the Council’s Complaints Committee which has stated that the program broadcast on OSN used inappropriate sexual implications contravene ethical and professional standards.

The council has also decided to refer the TV program, El Nas El Helwa (Sweet People), to investigation after the program was said to broadcast sexually explicit images.

In an immediate reaction to the decision, Chairman of Egyptians' Media Group that owns ON E network, Ossama al-Sheikh told Vito Gate website that the channel will comply with the council’s decision.

“The show is not produced by our network; we only bought the rights of airing it on ON E channel,” el-Sheikh told Vito, expressing his dissatisfaction of the show’s content. “We have the same reservations of the media council,” he added.

On the other hand, the SNL creators declined to comment on the council’s decision.

SNL Bel Araby is the Arabic edition of the American franchise Saturday Night Live, produced by the cable network OSN. It was first aired on February 20, 2016.