‘Barbie’ Banned In Algeria For “Damaging Morals”
deadline.comAlgerian authorities have pulled runaway box office hit Barbie from local cinemas over its “damaging morals”. The movie had been playing successfully since it opened three weeks ago — attracting an estimated 40,000 viewers — but a scan of local programming shows it is no longer screening in the country’s main cinemas after the culture ministry asked for its withdrawal.
An “official source” told Reuters the movie was taken out because it was deeemed to “promote homosexuality and did not comply with Algeria’s religious and cultural beliefs”.
Private news site 24H Algérie was first to report the ban, noting that the government informed the local distributor MD Ciné and leading cinemas that the film was being pulled for “damaging morals”.
The move comes after Warner Bros’ billion-dollar hit was banned in Kuwait and has hit roadblocks in Lebanon. A spokesman for the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information told the BBC last week that Barbie “promulgate[s] ideas and beliefs that are alien to Kuwaiti society and public order”.
Read more on deadline.com
