'Bohemian Rhapsody' causes uproar after scrubbing LGBTQ scenes in China release

Best Picture nominee "Bohemian Rhapsody" is embroiled in yet another controversy this week following its release in China.

The New York Times was the first to report that around three minutes of the film have been erased from the original version for screenings in China because they deal with the sexuality of the film's subject, Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury.

According to the Times, the Chinese version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" cut "a crucial scene in which Freddie tells his fiancée that he is not straight, and the scene in which his lover, Jim Hutton, is introduced." A scene in which Queen performs in women's clothing was also cut, as was the audio from the scene in which Mercury tells his bandmates that he has AIDS. There were no subtitles offered during the scene to make up for the lack of audio.

When the Times reached out to 20th Century Fox, which produced the movie, the studio said it had no comment on the matter.

The outlet cited many Chinese moviegoers who were confused, angered and shocked by the film's censorship in their country, who said that "contents of his life should not be so inexplicably removed," while others accused censors of having "completely misled the public."

Another person interviewed by the Times said, "I refuse to watch this type of crudely censored film."

In addition to the film being censored, Rami Malek's acceptance speech for Best Actor for his portrayal of Mercury at the Academy Awards last month was also censored by a Chinese streaming platform Mango TV.

"We made a gay film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life just unapologetically himself," Malek said. Instead of "gay man," viewers on Mango TV heard "special group" instead.