Warner Brothers accepted China’s request to remove a gay romance from the new Harry Potter universe film.
The studio removed six seconds of the 142-minute film, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” at the request of China, Variety first reported. The short, intimate dialogue was between male characters Dumbledore and Grindelwald who reportedly said “because I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love.”
“As a studio, we’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release, and that extends to circumstances that necessitate making nuanced cuts in order to respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors,” Warner Brothers told Variety. “Our hope is to release our features worldwide as released by their creators but historically we have faced small edits made in local markets.”
“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,” the statement continued. “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.”
