Saudi Arabia has reportedly asked Disney to cut an LGBTQ scene from Doctor Strange 2, but their request has been refused.
The scene in question is “barely 12 seconds” long and shows the lesbian character, America Chavez, played by the actor Xochitl Gomez, referring to her “two moms”, shared Nawaf Alsabhan, Saudi Arabia’s general supervisor of cinema classification.
“It’s just her talking about her moms because she has two moms,” Alsabhan said. “And being in the Middle East, it’s very tough to pass something like this.”
“We sent it to the distributor, and the distributor sent it to Disney, and Disney has told us they are not willing.”
While Disney has allegedly so far refused to cut the scene, Alsabhan has stressed to Agence France-Presse that the movie won’t be banned in Saudi Arabia.
“It will never be banned,” he told Agence France-Presse. “There’s no reason to ban the film. It’s a simple edit … So far they have refused. But we haven’t closed the door. We’re still trying.”
The legal system in Saudia Arabia is based on sharia law, an extremely strict legal system. Sharia laws beliefs and issues in relation to LGBTQ are complex, but generally, same-sex sexual activity between men and between women can be considered a criminal offence.
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The Hollywood Reporter has additional said that some reports have confirmed that the film will be banned in Kuwait. Advance tickets have allegedly been removed from sale in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
In the upcoming film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Doctor Strange, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, must traverse the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to arrive in Australian cinemas on May 5th, 2022.
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