Emirates Air In-Flight Movies Censor Same-Sex Kiss Scenes: Report

Emirates Airlines, the popular carrier based out of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, lays claim to being the only airline in the world on which every single seat comes equipped with a personal in-flight entertainment  screen. But according to a report by Britain’s Evening Standard newspaper,  the movies and TV shows shown on those screens have been subject to censorship biased against LGBTQ content.  According to the paper’s investigation, Emirates “offers films and television programs with edited-out footage of same-sex kisses. They include Oscar-nominated Ladybird, starring Saoirse Ronan, and at least one episode of BBC drama Killing Eve.” But at the same time, the airline—which was named the “World’s Best” by the travel site TripAdvisor, in its 2017 “Traveler’s Choice Awards”—has reportedly shown far greater lenience when it comes to editing love scenes between members of the opposite sex. The permitted scenes included “a semi-nude encounter between Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in comedy-drama Notting Hill, which was included in its entirety,” The Standard reported. A spokesperson for the airline denied that Emirates has engaged in anti-LGBTQ censorship, saying that Emirates does not even have a rights deal  that would allow them to edit movies and TV programs on their own. Instead, they rely on edits made by the studios that produced the films. “Emirates acquires mostly theatrical unedited versions of content, but as a family friendly airline serving an international audience, where there is excessive violence, sex, nudity or language, we opt to license the edited versions created by the studios/distributors,” the spokesperson said. Though the airline is based in a predominantly Islamic country, Emirates describes itself as “a multicultural global company,” and pledged that it “does not discriminate against people of any race, religion or sexual orientation. Diversity is a foundation of our brand.” Films and TV programs are routinely edited for broadcast within the UAE. Photo By Suparat Chairatprasert/Wikimedia Commons