On Monday, a Saudi official announced that the Saudi authorities had asked Disney to remove a “reference to the gay community” from the latest Marvel movie in order to allow it to be shown in cinemas in the conservative kingdom.
The movie, which the Kingdom requires to delete this reference, is “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”, and it is expected to start showing in theaters early next May.
The General Supervisor of the Film Classification Department at the General Authority for Audio-Visual Media in Saudi Arabia, Nawaf Al-Sabhan, said that the scene to be deleted was “barely 12 seconds long”.
He explained that in this scene, America Chavez, the superhero, is talking regarding her “mothers.”
“It is very difficult to let such a thing pass,” he added.
Al-Sabhan pointed out that Disney has so far responded to the Saudi request by saying that it “does not want” to delete the aforementioned scene.
The Saudi official confirmed that “there is no reason to ban the film. It’s just an edit… So far they’re refusing, but we haven’t closed the door. We will keep trying.”
