Kuwait Bans Barbie Movie Amid Shocking Controversy

Barbie movie is banned!! The push against LGBTQ content is led by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, even though the movie itself doesn’t prominently feature queer themes.

Kuwait has decided to prohibit the movie Barbie in order to safeguard “public morals and cultural customs.” This comes shortly after a Lebanese official urged their authorities to prevent the film from being shown in theaters due to its alleged promotion of homosexuality.

A representative from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information stated that the Warner Brothers film Barbie, which has earned over $1 billion in global box office revenue, spreads concepts and viewpoints that are unfamiliar and contrary to Kuwaiti society and public norms. This was reported by the official news agency KUNA on Wednesday.

The Kuwaiti ministry also prohibited the Australian supernatural horror movie Talk to Me for similar reasons.

Lebanon’s Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada declared on Wednesday that he has urged the Lebanese interior ministry to “do everything necessary to forbid the screening” of Barbie in the nation.

The film “promotes homosexuality and transsexuality … supports rejecting a father’s guardianship, undermines and ridicules the role of the mother, and questions the necessity of marriage and having a family”, he said.

After Mortada’s appeal, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi instructed the country’s censorship committee, a body under his ministry in charge of censorship matters, to assess the movie and provide its advice.

Minister Mohammad Mortada is supported by the influential Shia militant organization Hezbollah, led by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Nasrallah has intensified his verbal attacks on the LGBT community, citing Islamic scriptures that advocate severe penalties, including death, for those found guilty.

The movie was scheduled to be shown in Lebanese theaters starting from August 31.

Amid an increasing anti-LGBTQ movement in Lebanon, driven by the influential Hezbollah armed group, the request to ban the Barbie film has been made.

Ayman Mhanna, executive director at the nonprofit civic Samir Kassir Foundation, told the Reuters news agency that the move to ban the film came amid “a wave of bigotry”.

“This is part of a broader campaign that is bringing together Hezbollah, the Christian far right, and other top religious leaders in a focused campaign against LGBT people,” Mhanna said.