A spokeswoman for the multinational firm Mattel, which owns the show’s makers Hit Entertainment, said ‘It has been brought to our attention that in an episode of Fireman Sam (Series 9, Episode 7), an image of the Quran is briefly depicted.
‘The page was intended to show illegible text and we deeply regret this error. We sincerely apologise for any distress or offense it may have caused.
‘We will no longer be working with the animation studio responsible for this mistake.
‘In addition, we are taking immediate action to remove this episode from circulation and we are reviewing our content production procedures to ensure this never happens again.
‘Again, we apologise unreservedly to our viewers.’
Nice job, Mattel. Short of promising to go in and personally execute every last person in the Chinese animation studio responsible for the error, it’s hard to imagine what more the toy company could have done to make amends.