Chinese Censors Cut Out All Gay References From ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

The Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody has been an enormous hit since it hit theaters last year, delighting millions of fans around the world, and even sweeping up at the awards ceremonies, with Rami Malek winning the coveted ‘Best Actor’ gong for his portrayal of the legendary singer.

The film followed Freddie and Queen from the group’s inception through to their era-defining performance at Live Aid in 1985. It has been a hit with movie audiences all over the world. However, the Chinese version of the movie has been generating a great deal of controversy by censoring out the scenes in which Freddie’s homosexuality is explicitly mentioned.

Of course, the film was about much more than Freddie’s sexuality, and covered many different interpersonal relationships with the different people in Freddie’s life, including his parents and his lifelong friend and former sweetheart, Mary Austen.

However, Mercury’s sexuality was still an integral part of who he was, and many people are voicing their dismay at China’s decision to censor the film.

is this the real life
is this just fantasy https://t.co/J6mffDeT5M

— BBC Radio 4 (@BBCRadio4) March 25, 2019

At least three minutes of scenes, from a close-up of Mercury’s gyrating crotch as he performs, to a kiss with a male guest and the spanking of a female guest at a party, are missing.

It also omits the conversation with Mary where she asks him about being gay, and well as the introduction of Freddie’s lover, Jim Hutton.

“In effect it feels like the whole movie has been cut, though in reality it’s only a three-minute cut,” said one commentator on China’s Twitter alternative, Weibo.

“The film itself is not trying to highlight anything, but when we deliberately make deletions, it makes these things sensitive,” said another.

Homosexuality is not illegal in China, and in fact some cities in the vast country have a thriving gay scene. Still, activists say the conservative attitudes of some have prompted occasional government clamp-downs.

Since 2012, China has stepped up a crackdown on content it deems to violate so-called “socialist core value” under President Xi Jinping. This has applied to video games, music, and television.

Although they are thought by most to be very overbearing, Chinese censors can be unpredictable and inconsistent in their attitudes to violence, pornography, and politically sensitive topics.

For example, gay references were left intact in another hit movie, “Green Book”, which snatched the Best Picture Award from “Bohemian Rhapsody” at this year’s Academy Awards, when it released in China this month.

Shi Yedong, a Beijing-based film analyst, said it was unusual that “Bohemian Rhapsody” had even passed China’s censors in the current circumstances.

“The censorship is getting more and more intense on film and television,” he said.

There has been heavy speculation recently that Bohemian Rhapsody will get a sequel, after director Rudi Dolezal, who directed a lot of Queen’s music videos in the 1980s, said that a sequel was already “being heavily discussed in the Queen family”.

This has not yet been confirmed, but when asked on the red carpet, Queen guitarist Brian May said “Who knows, there may be a sequel”.

If there is to be a second film, I hope it doesn’t take quite as long to put out as the last one did! It was worth the wait, though.

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