‘Star Wars” first same-sex kiss cut from ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ in Singapore
Lucasfilm(SINGAPORE) — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker contains the franchise’s first-ever same-sex kiss, but audiences in Singapore won’t get to see it.
The BBC reports the scene — a brief shot of two women kissing in a celebratory crowd of people — has been cut from the Singaporean version of the film. Gay sex is illegal in the country and the government doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.
Singapore’s media regulatory body told the BBC that Disney omitted the scene so the film wouldn’t get a stricter rating in Singapore; without the scene, the film is rated PG13 there. It’s not clear what rating the film would have received if the scene was kept in, but a previous film with same-sex themes, Love Simon, was rated R21 — restricted to those above age 21 — in the country.
It’s also not known if Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has been similarly edited in other countries, but Deadline sources say it wasn’t edited in China.
Disney, parent company of ABC News, hasn’t yet commented on the report.
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