Cutting room floor

There’s a new development in the ‘God’s Own Country’ gay sex debacle

God's Own Country

The plot continues to thicken surrounding the deletion of several key sex scenes from the film God’s Own Country on Amazon.

Director Francis Lee expressed his ire on Twitter after Amazon Prime viewers noticed the omission of several scenes in the film depicting gay sex. Now Lee has issued an additional statement regarding the reasons behind the cuts.

Dear USA friends,” he wrote. “After investigation God’s Own Country was not censored by @PrimeVideo (Amazon USA) but by the US distributor @GoldwynFilms who butchered the streaming version without consultation to get more ‘revenue’. @PrimeVideo were incredibly supportive in rectifying.”

Related: Well, the full “God’s Own Country” sex scenes have arrived

The rental version of God’s Own Country on @PrimeVideo is the correct version of my film. I would like to thank Amazon Prime for being supportive and I would caution any film maker of working with the aforementioned ‘distributor’. Thank you EVERYONE for all your support,” he also tweeted shortly thereafter.

In addition, a report on IndieWire states that sources close to Amazon have confirmed that Samuel Goldwyn Films, the distributor, uploaded the censored version of the film to comply with Amazon’s policies prohibiting “sexually explicit content.” Though films depicting explicit sex and nudity are allowed on Amazon Prime, those titles will not appear on certain carousels advertising the films. In other words, Goldwyn Films cut the scenes to increase the visibility of the movie in hopes of generating higher profits. The uncut original release is also available to rent or purchase on Amazon.

The uncensored cut of God’s Own Country earned wide acclaim and comparisons to Brokeback Mountain upon release in 2017.
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