KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysian censors have reportedly cut out a “gay moment” in the Disney film Beauty and the Beast before agreeing to its release in the Muslim-majority nation.
The cuts come after the movie ran into trouble in Russia, which slapped an adults-only rating on the film last week following pressure by an ultra-conservative lawmaker who was pushing for a ban.
The film’s director Bill Condon has revealed that it contains Disney’s “first exclusively gay moment”, although some critics have said the reference is extremely mild and fleeting.
Malaysian Censorship Board (LPF) chairman Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid told The Star newspaper that the film “has been approved… with a minor cut”.
The cut focused on a “gay moment” in the film, said Abdul Halim, adding that it had been rated PG-13 – which indicates that some material may be inappropriate for pre-teens.
The Malaysian release of the movie, featuring Harry Potter star Emma Watson, was postponed by Disney earlier this week pending “an internal review”, according to theatre chain Golden Screen Cinemas which was set to show the film from Thursday.
In a departure from previous depictions of the fairy tale, Le Fou, the sycophantic sidekick to antagonist Gaston, is portrayed by comedian Josh Gad as a gay man, making him Disney’s first ever” out” LGBT character.
The film has also come under fire from religious figures in neighboring Singapore, with Christian clergy attacking Disney for deviating from “wholesome, mainstream values”.
“Parents are therefore strongly advised to provide guidance to their children about this re-make of Beauty & the Beast,” said Bishop Rennis Ponniah, president of the National Council of Churches of Singapore.
Harussani Zakaria, the senior mufti for Malaysia’s northern Perak state, said the film would “sow the seeds of destruction and negative behavior in our society”.
“We must guard ourselves from Western behavior which has gone astray,” he told AFP. “This movie must be banned in Malaysia.”
But Malaysia’s minister of tourism and culture, Seri Nazri Aziz, has criticized the controversy over the film, calling it “ridiculous”.
“You don’t ban a film because of a gay character,” he told the Malay Mail Online. “We must allow people to decide for themselves.”
Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia, where laws criminalizing sodomy can result in imprisonment, corporal punishment, and fines.