Warner Bros. admitted to cutting some scenes with gay dialogue out of the latest “Fantastic Beasts” movie in order to appease Chinese censors.
The scenes in “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” related to statements made by the Dumbledore character about his same-sex attraction to/relationship with the character Grindelwald.
The company released a statement to News.com.au confirming that it complied with the censorship request.
“As a studio, we’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release, and that extends to circumstances that necessitate making nuanced cuts in order to respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors,” said the statement from Warner Bros.
“Our hope is to release our features worldwide as released by their creators but historically we have faced small edits made in local markets. In the case of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, a six-second cut was requested and Warner Bros accepted those changes to comply with local requirements but the spirit of the film remains intact,” it added.
The company went on to characterize the cuts as “minor edits.”
J.K. Rowling, the author of the “Harry Potter” book series and creator of the spin-off series “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” revealed in 2009 that the Dumbledore character was gay, but the newest movie is the first to reference the sexual preferences of the character.
Among those filmmakers who refused to cave to demands from Chinese censors was celebrated director Quentin Tarantino who publicly decried the requests in 2019 to censor his movie “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” The movie was banned in China and lost significant revenue it would have otherwise garnered.
In January, Chinese censors edited the ending of the cult favorite “Fight Club” so that the state appears victorious over the protagonists and the main character is sent to a lunatic asylum.
Here’s the trailer for the latest ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movie:
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Final Trailer
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