China edits out gay dialogue in ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore’

nme.com:

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore have been removed for the film’s release in China, as they allude to a gay relationship.Six seconds in the third film were cut in the forthcoming release, referring to a romantic past between Dumbledore and Grindelwald.The original cut included the lines “because I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love”.The producers, Warner Bros, told Variety in a statement that they believe the “spirit of the film remains”.The studio added that they remain “committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release” and that that sometimes means “sensitively” making “nuanced cuts” for certain markets.“Our hope is to release our features worldwide as released by their creators but historically we have faced small edits made in local markets,” they added.“In the case of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, a six-second cut was requested and Warner Bros accepted those changes to comply with local requirements but the spirit of the film remains intact.“We want audiences everywhere in the world to see and enjoy this film, and it’s important to us that Chinese audiences have the opportunity to experience it as well, even with these minor edits.” In a three-star review of the new film, NME wrote: “Unfortunately, there are far too many other characters involved – and most of them don’t do much that actually matters.”.