E3 featured a lesbian kiss — but not everyone was able to see it
(Sony)
The biggest video game convention of the year featured a groundbreaking lesbian kiss, but viewers watching through a Disney channel stream of the event missed it.
E3 is an annual event where video game developers announce and show off tantalising hints of games to come in the next year.
During PlayStation’s press conference on Monday, fans were shown a clip of the upcoming game The Last of Us Part II, the hotly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed The Last of Us.
Sony PlayStation shows off their new games at E3 (Christian Petersen/Getty)
Developed by Naughty Dog, the game itself is highly violent as the protagonist Ellie is forced to fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic wasteland against zombies and hostile forces.
However, one of the more tender moments of the upcoming game was involved in the broadcast, where Ellie is in a dance hall and is approached by a woman.
The pair grow closer during the trailer and eventually kiss in a tender and groundbreaking moment.
Ellie and Dina kiss during the clip (Sony PlayStation)
This year’s E3 was shown by the kid-focused channel Disney XD, which attempted to censor any violent content that occurred during the convention.
However, during the Disney channel stream, viewers were stunned to find the stream cut away shortly after the kiss began.
In the broadcast on Disney XD, the kiss between the characters cuts out within a few seconds, in contrast to the actual kiss that lasts approximately 10 seconds.
Many people took to social media to complain that Disney had “censored” the kiss for its same-sex content.
However, Disney was quick to clarify that they had intended to censor the scene following the kiss – where Ellie graphically kills a man by slitting his throat.
A Disney XD spokesperson said: “The Disney XD policy does not allow for gratuitous violence in programming that children may be viewing.
“During the channel’s General Audience, DX|P-branded programming from the E3 gaming conference yesterday, telecast editors omitted content that did not meet our policy standards, including several seconds of an animated video game scene that began with a kiss, but ended with a knife attack in which a character’s throat was slashed.”
The spokesperson added: “Only the latter, violent portion of the scene was not televised from the event.”
PlayStation was not the only developer to show off LGBT and inclusive content in their upcoming games.
On Monday, Ubisoft showed the latest instalment of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
An E3 attendee plays The Last of Us (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty)
In the new game, players will be able to try and romance other characters for the first time, with choices not restricted by gender.
This means that players can romance either male or female characters, regardless of the gender of the main character.
In 2015, the franchise made history by adding its first transgender character into Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate.
