Apple criticised after banning comic because of gay sexual images
Apple has banned the sale of a comic which features two small images of gay sex.
The US computing giant has been accused of homophobia because previous issues of Saga – featuring sexual images of heterosexuals have not been banned.
The latest issue of Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples’s acclaimed series will not be available through the iOS comiXology app or on iPhones or iPads.
Alex Hern of the New Statesman said: “Issue twelve of the series opens with one of the characters, Prince Robot IV, injured on a battlefield. On his TV-screen head (look, it’s a thing in the series) images of gay porn are visible, as the damage takes its toll.”
He added: “while the small visible images are certainly explicit, they’re far from erotic. They work in humorous juxtaposition to the chaos of the battleground, and underline the artificial nature of the character in question.”
Brian Vaughan released a statement saying: “Unfortunately, because of two postage stamp-sized images of gay sex, Apple is banning tomorrow’s Saga #12 from being sold through any iOS apps. This is a drag, especially because our book has featured what I would consider much more graphic imagery in the past, but there you go.
“Fiona and I could always edit the images in question, but everything we put into the book is there to advance our story, not (just) to shock or titillate, so we’re not changing shit.”
