Barbie has become an international blockbuster hit, grossing more than a billion dollars worldwide and increasing, but there are two nations that will not be contributing to the film’s success.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Barbie has been formally banned in Kuwait, and Lebanon is close after. According to the article, Barbie is accused of “carrying ideas that encourage unacceptable behavior and distort society’s values” by the chairman of Kuwait’s film censorship committee, Lafi Al-Subaie.
Barbie, according to Lebanon’s cultural minister Mohammad Mortada, “promotes homosexuality” and “contradicts values of faith and morality” by minimizing the importance of the family unit.
Barbie’s prohibition in Kuwait and impending ban in Lebanon comes nearly a week after it was announced that the film’s distribution in the Middle East had been postponed.
However, both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East’s two largest markets, have granted the picture a release date of August 10th.
Censors had demanded that some changes be made to the picture in response to concerns over purported LGBTQ-related narration and speech, but it’s unclear whether those changes were implemented.
