Posted on 03/15/2017 8:18:51 AM PDT by reaganaut1
BANGKOK — Walt Disney Studios has refused to cut a brief, gay-themed scene from “Beauty and the Beast” as demanded by government censors in Malaysia, meaning the film will not open there Thursday as scheduled.
The Film Censorship Board of Malaysia recently ruled that a shot involving two male characters dancing in a ballroom must be cut from the movie, on the grounds that it promotes homosexuality. The sequence is said to be three seconds long.
“The film has not been and will not be cut for Malaysia,” Disney said in a statement Tuesday without elaborating.
The film’s director, Bill Condon, has called the scene in question — involving a character named LeFou, manservant to the villain, Gaston — an “exclusively gay moment.” The film, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens and costing $300 million to make and market, is a live-action remake of Disney’s 1991 animated blockbuster of the same name.
Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid, chairman of the censorship board, argued Wednesday that Malaysia was not preventing the movie from being screened. “It is in our guidelines that we don’t allow L.G.B.T. activity in movies in Malaysia,” he said in an interview. “They are the ones not allowing the movie to be shown. We approved it with a minor cut.”
He said the movie would have been shown with a PG-13 rating had Disney agreed to cut the scene.
Malaysia is a majority-Muslim country, and sodomy is illegal there, although the law is seldom enforced. The capital, Kuala Lumpur, has a thriving gay community.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That’s why they’re called the “Gaystapo!”
But I bet they would censor something if China found it offensive.
Or if islam found it offensive.
This is not going to end well for Disney. All over the world, the alternate lifestyle is not looked upon as a desirable trend. Wow. Dangerous stuff they are playing with.
What does it say about Disney management, that they won’t allow a minor change to a movie, so as not to offend the mores of another country?? What does it say about them, that they would rather their movie not be seen at all, rather than make the change? Why are they so insistent that the homosexual themed scene stay in????
You bet your ass they would! I hope the stupid thing bombs big time.
Doubling down, are they? ;-)
I’m anxious to see how the movie does. We take the “brokeback mountain” approach: Won’t see it, won’t rent it.
Who REALLY promotes terrorism? The Walt Disney Corp.
Muslims see Hollywood trash culture adamantly pushing homosexuality in their own countries, and the most radical among them are pushed over the edge.
Its obvious, isn’t it?
CleanFlicks, founded in Utah in 2000, was a business that produced edited versions of films to remove content which the company considered inappropriate for children or that viewers might otherwise find offensive. CleanFlicks removed sexual content, profanity, some references to deity, and some violence from movies, either by muting audio or clipping entire portions of the track.
A 2006 court ruling closed the company. On March 13, 2007, CleanFlicks reopened its website with “Movies You Can Trust.” While legally enjoined from offering edited movies, an email sent by the company on that date indicated that they had reviewed “tens of thousands” of movies and compiled over 1000 that meet their “family-friendly criteria.” In January 2013, the CleanFlicks.com website was no longer online.
The movie should come with a warning label — like they have on cigarettes — THIS LIFESTYLE IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH!
Disney thinks they can “promote” it better in the West by acting sanctimonious about their holy homosexual scene in countries that don’t want that crap.
Yet, you see Muslims and members of many other religious groups (sadly, even Christians) continue to flock to the Disney parks.
Disney knows this and (correctly, I’m sad to say) knows that the official protests don’t often roll down to the people voting with their pocketbooks, saying (in effect) ‘I don’t care about that stuff; I’m going to Disneyland!’
This is what zealots do, they never compromise.
They are happy to lose money just to ‘fly the flag’ some more. Suit yourselves. Wonder what the stockholders think about assuming such unnecessary risks?
The New York Times treats the issue as a religious one. Hopefully Americans of many Faiths will respond accordingly.
My wife and daughter would have gone to this movie if not for the gay stuff. I hope this hits them hard in the pocketbook
Just another deathrattle from a dying culture.
The Judges Of Sodom, from whom injustice flows.
To be fair, Malaysia is a Muslim country and that is apparently why they want the cut.
I am somewhat surprised that Disney decided that gay diversity wins over Muslim diversity.
I am still not going to watch the movie.
“But I bet they would censor something if China found it offensive.Or if islam found it offensive.”
Apparently not, Malaysia is mostly Muslim that’s why they won’t show it.
But they’ll do more than just edit for the ChiComs.
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