Chinese Government edits Bohemian Rhapsody; deletes gay scenes

Bohemian Rhapsody hit Chinese theatres on March 22 and the Chinese government made sure that the ‘gayness’ of the movie doesn’t seep into the general public.

The movie was edited to remove all traces of Freddie Mercury’s homosexuality. The censorship is hardly a surprise given China’s strict policies on exhibiting LGBTQ content. China has removed every line of dialogue that directly mentions homosexuality or bisexuality. When a reporter asks Mercury about his “sexual orientation” during a press conference scene, the subtitle has been changed to “sex life.”

However, censoring gay scenes only ended up leaving a lot of plot holes in the movie and left movie buffs in China dazed and confused.

The censorship of “Bohemian Rhapsody” followed the editing of Rami Malek’s Oscar speech last month during a live stream of the ceremony on China’s Mango TV. Malek won the Best Actor Oscar and while accepting the prize said, “Listen, we made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life unapologetically as himself, and the fact that I’m celebrating him and his story here tonight is proof that we’re longing for stories like this.” The Mango TV subtitles removed “gay man” and replaced it with “special group.”