Beauty And The Beast, slated to release on March 17, is fully or partially banned in some parts of the world including Malaysia due to a controversial gay scene in the film.
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Earlier this month, director Bill Condon spoke about the LGBT representation in the movie while interacting with the representative of British gay lifestyle magazine, Attitude. He revealed that the film features an exclusive gay moment between Josh Gad's character LeFou and the antagonist Gaston, portrayed by Luke Evans.
The statement sparked controversy and countries, such as Russia, where homosexuality is illegal, decided to review the content of the dark fantasy thriller.
A drive-in theatre located in Henagar revealed through its Facebook page that they will not release the film due to its homosexual content.
"It is with great sorrow that I have to tell our customers that we will not be showing Beauty and the Beast at the Henagar Drive-In when it comes out. For those that do not know Beauty and the Beast is "premiering" their first homosexual character. The producer also says at the end of the movie there will be a surprise for same-sex couples," read the social media post.
Shortly, an MP of the United Russia party named Vitaly Milonov urged Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky to ban the Disney movie under anti-gay propaganda law. Although the film is not completely banned in the country, the age limit for the viewers has been set to 16 and above.
Recently, Malaysian Censorship Board (LPF) raised an issue over LGBT representation in Beauty And The Beast. Chairman Datuk Abdul Hamid revealed that the movie will be screened with a minor edit and has granted a P13 parental guidance classification, according to a BBC report.
The international ban on the Disney movie triggered a social media outrage as many of the netizens disagreed with the censorship board's move to ban the entire film over a small scene. While some of the social media users stated the board's decision as disgusting and stupid, a few of them called Malaysian government's move unfair.
Check out some twitter reactions here:
malaysia bans beautyandthe beast but is okay with nonsense malay movies with no moral values just full of brainless jokes.
Beautyandthe Beast postponed because of some gay scene. Some rape scene in a malay movie is okay though.
Dey, the people who wants to watch BeautyandThe Beast are adults la already. They've waited since the animated one. Think la Malaysia.
Malaysia has so many things to improve on but we choose to look at the petty stupid stuff like banning Beauty and the Beast. How disgusting.
Beautyandthe Beast is a movie from disney, a fucking kid's movie. you didnt ban 'Dirty Grandpa' but you ban this? Tf man
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