Kuwait bans Barbie movie as Lebanese minister calls for action over film

Kuwait has announced a ban on the film Barbie in a bid to protect “public ethics and social traditions”, shortly after a Lebanese minister asked authorities in his country to bar the movie from cinemas for “promoting homosexuality”.

Kuwait has announced a ban on the film Barbie in a bid to protect “public ethics and social traditions”, shortly after a Lebanese minister asked authorities in his country to bar the movie from cinemas for “promoting homosexuality”.

A spokesman for the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information said late on Wednesday that the film by Warner Brothers, which has topped $1bn in box office ticket sales worldwide since its debut, “promulgates ideas and beliefs that are alien to Kuwaiti society and public order”, according to the official KUNA news agency.

The ministry also banned the Australian supernatural horror film Talk to Me on similar grounds.

In Lebanon, Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada announced on Wednesday that he has asked the Lebanese interior ministry to “take all necessary measures to ban showing” Barbie in the country.

The film “promotes homosexuality and transsexuality … supports rejecting a father’s guardianship, undermines and ridicules the role of the mother, and questions the necessity of marriage and having a family”, he said.

Following Mortada’s request, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi asked the country’s censorship committee, which falls under his ministry and is traditionally responsible for censorship decisions, to review the film and give its recommendation.