Actor Benedict Cumberbatch will be seen in Marvel’s upcoming ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ playing the lead. The film is slated to hit the cinemas on May 6. There were reports previously that the film has been banned in Saudi Arabia. However, it is now clear that Saudi Arabia has asked Disney to cut the references of the LGBTQ from the film revolving around the lesbian character, America Chavez, in the film.
The Guardian reported that these cuts are only 12 seconds long. Disney has denied this request and Cumberbatch said that the entire scenario is an expected disappointment.
A video wherein Cumberbatch is addressing this issue in the press tour in London is going viral on Twitter.
In the video, the actor says, "It is, I’m afraid, an expected disappointment. We’ve come to know from those repressive regimes that their lack of tolerance is exclusionary to people who deserve to be, not only included, but celebrated for who they are and made to feel part of a society and a culture and not punished for their sexuality. It feels truly out of step with everything that we’ve experienced as a species, let alone where we’re at globally more as a culture, but frankly it’s just even more reason why this isn’t tokenism to include an LGBTQ+ community member.”
He further added about the character of Chavez and said, "This character is that from the comics. It’s not something we’ve created for the sake of diversity. We’ve included her because of how awesome she is as a character. And that’s just one aspect of her character and that’s all it should be, but sadly, it’s also now, politically, very charged. And I wish it wasn’t.”
He then commended both Disney and Marvel by saying, "I wish we could be having a normalized conversation about this where it wasn’t an issue but we’re not. So we still have to fight. We still have to push for inclusion and equality and I’m very glad in a small, but on a very big canvas, Marvel and Disney are doing that.”
‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ is the sequel of ‘Doctor Strange’ that released in 2016.
