Olivia Wilde calls out airlines for censoring Booksmart lesbian sex scene

Booksmart director Olivia Wilde says her “heart just broke” after discovering the movie’s lesbian sex scene had been cut from certain airlines.

Olivia Wilde is not happy the lesbian sex scene in Booksmart has been removed for airline screenings.

The actress-turned-director brought attention to the issue when she retweeted a post about an airline cutting the film’s lesbian sex scene while keeping in straight kissing scenes. Just hours later, Wilde told Variety’s Marc Malkin she was “trying to get to the bottom” of the “censorship” issue, as she wanted “people to experience the entire film.” Added the Booksmart director, “My heart just broke.”

Beanie Feldstein stars as Molly and Kaitlyn Dever as Amy in Booksmart. Picture: Francois Duhamel/Annapurna Pictures

Director Olivia Wilde. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Over the weekend, Wilde retweeted a message from someone who watched Booksmart on an aeroplane and found the experience lacking. “They cut the ENTIRE lesbian hook-up scene like not even a KISS was allowed!” wrote writer Michaela Barton.

“Oh but don’t worry guys, the Straights got their kiss.” Wilde wrote the situation was “truly a bummer” as “there is no nudity in this scene”.

WARNING: Booksmart spoilers ahead

The scene in question features a bathroom hook-up between Kaitlyn Dever and Diana Silvers, but the more intense moments happen off-screen – on-screen, viewers just see them kissing and touching.

This is truly a bummer. There is no nudity in this scene. What makes it too obscene for airplane viewing? What airline? https://t.co/5QwlomY2fR

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) October 27, 2019

When asked about the controversy at the Academy’s Governors Awards on Sunday night, Wilde insisted she didn't see why an airline would cut the scene. “There’s censorship, airline to airline, of films, which there must be some kind of governing board to determine. We rate it a certain way. If it’s not X-rated, surely it’s acceptable on an aeroplane,” she told Variety.

“There’s insane violence of bodies being smashed in half and yet a love scene between two women is censored from the film. It’s such an integral part of this character’s journey. I don’t understand it. My heart just broke. I’m trying to get to the bottom of it; I want people to experience the entire film.”

The scene that was reportedly censored.

While Wilde did not mention which airline (or airlines) censored the film, some Twitter users wrote they experienced a similar issue while watching Booksmart on a Delta flight.

On Monday, Wilde retweeted another viewer who wrote that Delta “also cut the use of the word lesbian and not legitimate expletives”.

Wrote the director, “Censoring the word lesbian is just batsh*t insane.”

According to Variety, Delta released a statement on Monday in an attempt to defuse the public outcry.

“Delta’s content parameters do not in any way ask for the removal of homosexual content from the film,” said the airline. “We value diversity and inclusion as core to our culture and our mission and will review our processes to ensure edited video content doesn’t conflict with these values.”

A Delta spokesman also told Variety the airline used “a third-party editing company” that created its own version of every film shown on the airline.

“If anything in the unedited version of the movie does not meet Delta’s guidelines, then Delta runs the third party’s edit of the film, regardless of whether further aspects of the film that don’t violate Delta’s guidelines have also been removed,” writes Variety’s Latesha Harris. “Delta declined to provide the airline’s standards and guidelines for in-flight movies, and the spokesman said he was not aware what part of the unedited version of Booksmart did not meet Delta’s guidelines.”

This article originally appeared on Decider and was reproduced with permission