During an interview on the occasion of the promotional tour of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessthe actor benedict cumberbatch defended Disney’s choice to keep an LGTBIQ+ scene in the sequel despite requests from some Middle Eastern countries, at the risk of being banned if censorship is not applied.
As revealed by a spokesman for the body that regulates cinema in Saudi Arabia, it is 12 seconds of a scene in which América Chávez talks about her mothers.
For Cumberbatch, the Saudi request is an expected disappointment, and completely out of step with where the human species currently stands.
I’m afraid it’s an expected disappointment. We have come to know from those repressive regimes that their lack of tolerance excludes people who deserve to be, not just included, but celebrated for who they are and forced to feel part of a society and a culture and not be punished for their sexuality. It feels really out of step with everything we’ve experienced as a species, let alone where we are globally more as a culture, but frankly it’s even more of a reason why this isn’t forced to include a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Cumberbatch continued his statement emphasizing that Chavez is a character from the comics and was included in the film not for the sake of diversity, but because of how awesome he is.
This character is from the comics. It’s not something we created for the sake of diversity. We have included her because of how incredible she is as a character. And that’s just one aspect of his character and that’s all it should be, but unfortunately also now, politically, it’s very charged. And I wish it wasn’t.
The actor concluded by urging Hollywood to continue pushing for inclusion and equality.
I wish we could have a normalized conversation about this where it wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s not possible. So we still have to fight. We still have to push for inclusion and equality and I’m very happy in one part, but on a general level, Marvel and Disney are doing that.