Speaking on the floor of the U.S.
Senate on Thursday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, criticized
Chinese censors for editing out that “Freddie Mercury was gay” in
the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
Cruz has introduced legislation that
would restrict assistance from the federal government for movie
studios that edit their movies to get past China's censors.
Cruz noted that in Bohemian Rhapsody
the censors “edited out references to the fact that Freddie Mercury
was gay,” referring to the Queen frontman who died from
complications related to AIDS in 1991 at age 45.
Cruz also railed against edits in other
Hollywood movie titles, including Doctor Strange, Skyfall,
and Top Gun: Maverick.
Appearing on Fox News earlier this
month to discuss his bill, Cruz said that Hollywood producers were
“kowtowing” to the Chinese government.
“It really is tragic that Hollywood
has been willing to, over and over again, to kowtow to Chinese
communists and let the Chinese government censor American movies,”
Cruz said.
“How do you tell the story of
Bohemian Rhapsody and not say that Freddie was gay?” host
Maria Bartiromo asked.
“You don’t,” Cruz answered. “But
Hollywood was more than happy to edit the scene out. They did it
because the Chinese government didn’t want to acknowledge that
Freddy Mercury was homosexual. Look, that’s a huge part of the
story!”
“The problem is Hollywood is more
interested in making millions of dollars from the Chinese market than
they are in free speech, than they are in artistic integrity,” he
added.
It should be noted that Cruz is vocally
opposed to LGBT rights, in particular same-sex marriage, and that his
father, Rafael Cruz, a preacher, is homophobic.
(Related: Rafael
Cruz: A goal of the gay rights movement is to “legalize
pedophilia.”)