United Arab Emirates bans new Buzz Lightyear movie in theaters

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – disney Pixar’s animated film “Light Years” hits theaters this week and is expected to attract avid Toy Story fans in several countries around the world.

Not in the United Arab Emirates, though.

The UAE’s Office for Media Regulation announced on Monday that it would ban the film, citing what it said was “violating the country’s media content standards,” the office wrote in a tweet. The feature film is scheduled to open in UAE cinemas on June 16.

The government agency did not specify in its tweet which part of “Light Years” violated its content standards, but executive director Rashid Khalfan Al Nuaimi said told Reuters It is based on including gay characters. The film features same-sex relationships and brief kisses.

The decision drew mixed reactions online, with some Twitter users praising the move.

“Thank you so much for saving our children,” one user, whose bio included the UAE flag, said in response to the tweet.

Others criticized the ban, with one user writing, “A country still living in the 1300s”.

As of Tuesday night in Dubai, Lightyear was still advertised as set to premiere on June 16. UAE’s Vox Cinemas website. Disney did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Homosexuality is criminalized in the UAE, as well as in other Gulf countries and most of the Muslim world. According to entertainment news site Deadline Hollywood, light years won’t play In Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt or Indonesia – the latter is the world’s most populous Muslim country with 274 million people.

It also won’t be showing in Malaysia, according to a tweet from the country’s main cinema chain GSC, which posted a photo of Pixar’s Buzz Lightyear character and the words “Not Beyond”, a reference to the character’s tagline “To Infinity and Beyond.” .”

The UAE enacted the ban despite announcing last year that the country would no longer censor films. The change is part of wider modernisation reforms including the legalisation of premarital sex and a shift from Islamic weekends (Friday to Saturday) to Saturday to Sunday weekends to boost global competitiveness and attract more foreign investment and talent.

For years, the UAE has established itself as a modern, tolerant haven in a highly conservative region. The oil-rich desert emirate is home to 90 percent of its expatriate population and allows alcohol, bikinis on public beaches and other cultural elements often banned in Muslim countries.

Its nightclubs are similar to those in Europe, it regularly hosts concerts by famous rappers and pop stars, and it even relaxed penalties for some drug laws last year. In 2016, the Ministry of Tolerance was established.

However, homosexuality remains taboo in the country. When the US embassy in Abu Dhabi posted a rainbow-themed post on Instagram expressing support for the LGBTQ+ community, it was met with backlash from users in the country.

This is not the first time the US embassy has celebrated LGBTQ+ rights in the UAE.last year, it Raise the pride flag on its premises, marking the first time any diplomatic mission has flown the gay pride flag in the religiously conservative Arabian Gulf. The British embassy also raised the pride flag last year.