Algeria has banned the movie Barbie from local cinemas, citing moral issues that affronted public sensibilities in the Muslim-majority North African country.
Reuters reports an official source and the local 24H Algerie news site confirmed the move against the Warner Bros. product on Monday.
The official source said the film “promotes homosexuality and other Western deviances” and that it “does not comply with Algeria’s religious and cultural beliefs.”
Algeria’s Culture Ministry supervises the contents of films projected in cinemas and can stop them being shown.
Lebanon and Kuwait have both also banned the film, as Breitbart News reported.
Kuwait announced its ban late Wednesday, saying the film promotes “ideas and beliefs that are alien to the Kuwaiti society and public order,” without elaborating, according to a statement published by the state-run KUNA news agency.
In Lebanon, Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada said the film was found to “contradict values of faith and morality” and “promote homosexuality and sexual transformation.”
His request to ban the film was forwarded to Lebanon’s General Security agency, which falls under the Interior Ministry and traditionally handles censorship decisions, to make the final verdict.
This mage released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Ryan Gosling, left, and Margot Robbie in a scene from “Barbie.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
Those countries joined Vietnam which prohibited the film’s showing in July because a scene in the film shows a map with China’s “Nine-Dash Line” in it, a fictitious border the communist dictatorship in Beijing created that puts almost the entire South China Sea under Chinese control.
The Warner Bros. movie about the iconic dolls has grossed over $1 billion in less than a month since opening in other markets.
The film — led and produced by Margot Robbie, directed and co-written by Greta Gerwig — returned $400 million domestic and $500 million internationally faster than any other movie at the studio, including the Harry Potter films.