There’s no nudity or funny business in it, but that’s not stopping numerous airlines censoring the key hook-up scene in Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart.
Comfortably one of the best films of the year is Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, Booksmart. If you’ve not had the pleasure yet, just track down a copy. It’s on DVD and digital download in the UK – you’ll need to import from Australia or the US if you want a Blu-ray – and it’s very much worth the effort.
In a bizarre and troubling piece of censorship though, it turns out that some major airlines have chopped the film for its in-flight entertainment system. It’s been reported on Twitter by an assortment of its users that apparently Delta, Etihad and Emirates have shown a version that excludes the film’s lesbian hook-up scene.
The whole scene.
As Twitter user Michaela Barton wrote…
Tried watching Booksmart on the plane and they cut the ENTIRE lesbian hookup scene like not even a KISS was allowed! oh but don’t worry guys, the Straights got their kiss 🙄
— mi-kill-ya 🎃🎥🏳️🌈 (@MichaelaBarton_) October 27, 2019
She added further in the conversation chain that a different movie had a heterosexual hookup scene left entirely in tact.
This has now come to the attention of Olivia Wilde too, and as she pointed out, there’s no nudity in the scene. There’s nothing troubling about it at all, in fact, and compared to other films that airlines show relatively untampered, sadly it looks like the fact that it’s a hook up scene between two women that’s the heart of the problem.
Here’s Wilde’s Tweet…
This is truly a bummer. There is no nudity in this scene. What makes it too obscene for airplane viewing? What airline? https://t.co/5QwlomY2fR
— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) October 27, 2019
The airlines concerned haven’t yet commented. At the very least, we can but hope that the publicity this generates will encourage more people to see out one of the best films of 2019. But still: sheesh.
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