Disney Reportedly Refusing To Cut LGBTQ+ Scene From 'Doctor Strange 2' In Saudi Arabia

Disney, the parent company of Marvel, is refusing to cut a scene from Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness which makes reference to a lesbian couple, ahead of its May release.

Saudi Arabia is refusing to show the film unless the 12 second clip is removed from the final release. The disputed scene features America Chavez, a character who is openly gay in the comics, talk about her “two moms”. The Guardian reported that Nawaf Alsabhan, Saudi Arabia’s general supervisor of cinema classification said “We sent it [the 12 second clip] to the distributor, and the distributor sent it to Disney, and Disney has told us they are not willing [to cut it].”

You can see the latest trailer for Doctor Strange 2 and get hyped for next week’s release in the video below.

Alsabhan denies that the film has been banned in Saudi Arabia as previously reported. “It will never be banned, there’s no reason to ban the film. It’s a simple edit... So far they have refused. But we haven’t closed the door. We’re still trying.”

As homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia, Alsabhan claims it is “very tough” to get a film with allusions to LGBTQ+ characters shown or sold. It was also reported that the film has been banned in Kuwait, and advance ticket sales have been removed in Qatar alongside Saudi Arabia.

This is not the first time Disney has come under fire for the removal of LGBTQ+ themes from its films. Variety reports that a statement made by Pixar employees on 9 March claims that Disney often removes allusions to homosexuality in Disney/Pixar films.

“Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar. Even if creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it.”