China's censors drop gay scenes from 'Bohemian Rhapsody' film

China has scrubbed at least 10 scenes with gay references from the Oscar-winning biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” about British rock musician Freddie Mercury, incensing some domestic viewers who said authorities were overreacting.

The film about the lead singer of British rock band Queen, idolized by gay Western fans, has earned more than 50 million yuan ($8 million) in box office revenue since opening in Chinese arthouse cinemas on Friday, according to Alibaba Pictures.

But 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.

“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-like Weibo.

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

The China Film Administration did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

The film traces the singer’s life since Queen was formed in 1970 to one of its highlight performances in London in 1985.

Homosexuality is not illegal in China, with a thriving gay scene in some cities, but 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, whether in video games, music or television.

But Chinese censors can be unpredictable in their attitudes to violence, pornography, and politically sensitive topics.

For example, gay references were left intact in another 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.

But 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.

($1=6.7153 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Reporting by Pei Li and Brenda Goh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez