“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” has been released worldwide, with Kuwait audiences seeing a slightly different film, according to a new report.
The Gulf country is known to be strict about intimacy scenes — even with heterosexual characters. T’Challa and Nakia’s kiss in the original movie was axed.
Now a 10-second moment in the sequel — a kiss on the forehead between Michaela Coel’s and Florence Kasumba’s characters — is on the chopping block in Kuwait, The Hollywood Reporter wrote Friday.
Other edits requested by censors, coming in at just over a minute in total, include a birth scene and the line, “A god to his people.”
Kuwait appears to be the only territory in the region that will not see these clips. Even Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is illegal, will show the forehead kiss. THR reports that “Wakanda Forever” will also be screened unedited in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar.
Disney’s “Lightyear” received dissimilar treatment in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. Although there was no official confirmation as to why, fans believe the same-sex kiss between two female characters in the family-friendly movie resulted in it being banned there.
Recent blockbusters such as “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “West Side Story” reportedly didn’t make it to Saudi theaters because of same-gender kisses and gay or transgender characters.
A heterosexual kiss was also removed from “Encanto” screenings in Kuwait, per THR.
“Wakanda Forever” is in U.S. theaters now.