Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Benedict Cumberbatch reacts to alleged ban on film in Saudi Arabia

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the titular role, is releasing in theatres worldwide on May 6. After the media reports of the film getting banned in Saudi Arabia, now it has come to notice that Saudia Arabia has requested Disney to cut 'LGBTQ' references in the film regarding the presence of the lesbian character America Chavez.

As per a report in The Guardian, these cuts refer to 'barely 12-seconds' in the film where Chavez, played by Xochitl Gomez, refers to her 'two moms'. Disney has so far declined this request. Benedict Cumberbatch reacted to this whole situation calling it 'an expected disappointment.

A video is going viral on Twitter from the Multiverse of Madness press tour in London where Benedict can be heard talking about this whole issue. He can be heard saying, "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."

Talking about the presence of the character of Chavez in the film, he adds, "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."

Benedict Cumberbatch addresses #DoctorStrange in the Multiverse of Madness being banned in countries for inclusion of a LGBTQ+ character.

“It’s an expected disappointment…We still have to push for inclusion, and I’m very glad…Marvel and Disney are doing that.” pic.twitter.com/RfOcyjNwEg

— Doctor Strange Updates (@DrStrangeUpdate) April 26, 2022

Praising Marvel and Disney, he concluded, "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."

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the sequel of the 2016 blockbuster Doctor Strange and follows the events in the Marvel timeline when Benedict's Doctor Stephen Strange accidentally opened the multiverse in Spider-Man: No Way Home to help Tom Holland's Spider-Man.