Algeria has reportedly pulled the Barbie movie from national cinemas, joining many countries in the Middle East and North African region to ban the American blockbuster for allegedly “violating morality”.
“(It was banned) because it promotes homosexuality and other Western deviances that do not comply with Algeria’s religious and cultural beliefs,” according to local media Algerie24H.
After being screened for over three weeks, Algerian authorities have reportedly restricted national cinemas from withdrawing the American movie considered controversial by many politicians across the region.
Without officially communicating the ban decision, the Barbie film vanished this Sunday, 13 August, from the schedules of various cinemas around the North African country.
Scheduled for the opening of the new cinemas in the Garden City shopping centre in the capital, the film was discreetly withdrawn from the program.
Films are often delayed in the region to allow time for production companies to censor them or gather committees to review them.
Kuwait has already banned “Barbie” outright, saying that the film promotes “ideas and beliefs that are alien to Kuwaiti society and public order.”
Meanwhile, Lebanese officials who were in back-to-back meetings to decide on the movie ban have finally agreed to ban it.
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