Cinema slammed after promising to ‘fast-forward’ same-sex kiss in Disney’s Lightyear
Buzz Lightyear is marooned on a planet. © 2021 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
A cinema in Oklahoma, United States has been pressured to remove a sign promising to “fast-forward” through a same-sex kiss scene in Disney’s Lightyear.
The sign, which was reportedly removed after public pressure, assured parents that the venue could “fast-forward” through a kiss between two female characters which has caused the film to be banned in 14 countries.
The warning, posted outside the 89er Theatre in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, read: “Attention parents: The management of this theatre discovered after booking Lightyear that there is a same-sex kissing scene within the first 30 minutes of the Pixar movie.
“We will do all we can to fast-forward through that scene, but it might not be exact.”
KOCO News reported on Tuesday (21 June) that the owner said “they took the sign down and never actually fast-forwarded through any showing of the movie.”
A Kingfisher #Oklahoma movie theater, the 89'er Theater, had this anti gay sign in front of their door saying that they would try to fast forward every showing of #lightyear until intense public pressure made them remove the sign.
Wtf?
Sadly that’s so Oklahoman. pic.twitter.com/RRqnrFYQNF
— "The Macho Man" Rami Malek (@ReverendSteve) June 21, 2022
Lightyear’s same-sex kiss has sparked a bigoted backlash across the globe, with Texas senator Ted Cruz going on a bizarre rant about how the scene will lead to “Mickey and Pluto going at it”.
“These lunatics, they want to see Mickey and Pluto going at it and the press lost their mind,” Cruz said. “And then what do they do? Boom! The next movie they come out, Buzz Lightyear. What do we need? We need lesbian toys.”
Star of the film Chris Evans, however, has taken a firm stand on people negatively reacting to the kiss, calling those with homophobic reactions “idiots”.
Evans, who voices Buzz Lightyear in the film, told Reuters that the “real truth is those people are idiots”.
“Every time there’s been social advancement as we wake up, the American story, the human story is one of constant social awakening and growth and that’s what makes us good,” Evans told the news agency.
“I think the goal is to pay them no mind, march forward and embrace the growth that makes us human.”
Evans added in an interview with Variety that his goal is that “we can get to a point where it is the norm, and that this doesn’t have to be some uncharted waters, that eventually this is just the way it is.”
