” Lightyear ” was censored in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, in addition to other West Asian countries, for the inclusion of a lesbian kiss in one of its scenes. Pixar‘s animated film thus joins the list of films that have been affected in that area of the Asian continent for including LGBTQ+ content.
As reported by Variety magazine, the scene in question had originally been cut by Pixar, but was reinserted when its animators criticized Disney for “censoring gay affection”. In it, the character of Alisha, commander of ” Lightyear ” (voiced by Chris Evans in its original version), forms a new family with her partner and the two greet each other by kissing each other on the lips.
This is how they banned “Lightyear”
The US publication also pointed out that ” Lightyear “, which opens in theaters this Friday, June 17, was never submitted for review by the Saudi Arabian censorship authorities, assuming that it would not obtain authorization for its release in the country.
In the United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, it did obtain the green light, since the restrictions in the cinematographic field have been relaxed in recent years. However, in a turn of events, the license to reproduce the film was finally revoked in the Asian country, after messages on social networks accused Disney and ” Lightyear ” of insulting Muslims and Islam.