Chinese Censorship Alters Gender of Gay Character in Film

In a new development in film censorship, the Chinese version of the Hollywood thriller 'Together', starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, has altered the gender of a gay character, converting a same-sex relationship into a heterosexual one. This change, likely facilitated by artificial intelligence (AI), has drawn significant criticism on social media.

In the film, the face of a man in a same-sex relationship was replaced with a woman's face for its release in China. The edit was noticed after social media users compared the altered scene with the original, sparking backlash from viewers.

Four individuals who viewed the film in China reported that the version they saw depicted a heterosexual couple in a brief scene. They were unaware of the edit until it was highlighted on social media.

Chinese viewers criticized the local distributors, calling the edit disrespectful to the original work and the LGBT community. The China Film Administration did not immediately respond to inquiries about the alteration, nor did the film's distributors in China and the US.

Amid mounting criticism, the film's Chinese distributor halted its wide release a day before its scheduled debut, citing changes in the distribution plan without providing a new release date. The film currently holds a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This incident is part of a broader pattern of Western films being censored for Chinese release.