Topline
The United Arab Emirates barred the upcoming Lightyear Pixar film from theaters over reports of the movie including a reported kiss between two female characters, the country announced Monday morning, the latest in a growing trend of Disney movies receiving international bans due to their depiction of LGBTQ characters.
Uzo Aduba attends the premiere of Lightyear last week.
Key Facts
The animated film won’t be shown in the UAE “due to its violation of the country’s media content standards,” the country’s media regulator said in a tweet.
The tweet doesn’t specify what the violation was, but included a doctored image of a red no sign over the movie poster.
The Toy Story spin-off, which will release domestically in theaters Thursday, will include a relationship between one of the film’s main characters Hawthorne voiced by Uzo Aduba and another female character, per Variety.
Key Background
Pixar’s Onward was reportedly banned by Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in March 2020 over its historic portrayal of an openly gay character. Eternals, a Marvel movie released in November, wasn’t shown in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Qatar over its depiction of a gay relationship, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Disney and 20th Century Studios’ West Side Story was banned in December by six Gulf countries, a decision Variety reported was due to the inclusion of a transgender character. Reports circulated in April that Saudi Arabia banned Marvel’s Doctor Strange over the movie’s reference to a character’s two moms, though an official from the country said Saudi Arabia hadn’t yet barred the film but instead was in a dispute with Disney over removing the content.
Surprising Fact
The kiss in question was initially cut from Lightyear but later restored after Pixar employees accused Disney of censoring “overtly gay affection” in films, Variety reported in March.
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/06/13/lightyear-banned-in-uae-over-same-sex-kiss-in-latest-overseas-censorship-of-lgbtq-stories/