Buzz Lightyear may be able to travel through space and time, but he won’t be making it to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates on his latest mission. Pixar’s forthcoming space odyssey, Lightyear, has reportedly been banned in certain Middle Eastern countries, most likely due to a scene featuring a same-sex kiss.
Lightyear stars Chris Evans as the voice of Toy Story’s square-headed space himbo, who in this film is not a toy, but the fake-real human that the fictional talking toy is based on. It’s sort of a film within a film (I think?), like we’re supposed to imagine Andy watched this very movie as a child. Seems a tad convoluted for a children’s movie, but sure, why not? There’s also a robot cat with a funny accent, to balance out the needlessly meta plot.
Despite all that silliness, the UAE’s Media Regulatory Office announced that it will not screen the film in the country. In a tweet, it did not cite a specific reason for not licensing the film beyond a “violation of the country’s media standards.” But the scene that presumably prompted the ban sees Hawthorne, Buzz’s best friend and a commanding officer voiced by Uzo Aduba, greeting her wife with a smooch on the lips.
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This is just the latest instance of Disney seeing one of its films blocked from release in the Gulf countries. That list includes several recent Marvel Cinematic Universe offerings, like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Eternals (although the people of Qatar and Kuwait did not miss much with this unfortunate Chloé Zhao dud). Doctor Strange introduces gay teen America Chavez, played by Xochitl Gomez, and Eternals features a queer couple as well as the franchise’s first openly gay superhero, Phastos.
Last year’s West Side Story remake, also from Disney, was barred from release in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait due to the addition of a transgender character, Anybodys, played by nonbinary actor Iris Menas. With homosexuality illegal across the Middle East, basically any films featuring overt LGBTQ+ content are at risk of censorship.
Lightyear and the kiss have been embroiled in controversy stateside, too—Disney initially cut the scene, then added it back following backlash within the company. In March, a group of unnamed LGBTQ+ Pixar employees and allies wrote a letter calling out Disney for cutting “nearly every moment of overtly gay affection.” This was an especially bad look in the context of Disney and CEO Bob Chapek’s initial silence on Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Now that the scene has been reinstated, it will make history as the first time Pixar’s has included a same-sex kiss in a film. If you don’t live in Saudi Arabia or the UAE, You can see it for yourself when Lightyear hits theaters on June 17. If animated movies about astronauts aren’t your thing, I recommend watching this video of Chris Evans and his facial hair flirting with a reporter at the film’s premiere on repeat instead.
