‘West Side Story’ banned in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait due to LGBTQ role

At the very least two nations will not screen the new “West Side Story” remake, reportedly thanks to it showcasing a nonbinary actor. 

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have not granted the dwell-action film a launch certification, protecting against it from currently being viewed in these international locations, according to The Wrap. The film was initially targeted to open in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 9, just forward of its North America release on Dec. 10. 

In the meantime, censors in other Middle Japanese nations — Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — reportedly asked for cuts to the new movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s basic musical. Having said that, Walt Disney and 20th Century Studios have made the decision not to make the cuts, an insider advised The Wrap. 

Neither Disney nor 20th Century promptly returned The Post’s request for remark. 

The studios reportedly do foresee that the film will be released in some other countries in the Center East. 

The rationale for the ban of the New York-established “Romeo and Juliet” acquire has not been specified, but The Wrap proposed it’s owing to Anybodys, a teenage character penned to be transgender and performed by actor Iris Menas, who identifies as nonbinary.

Saudi Arabia has formerly censored many movies on the foundation of troubles associated to currently being LGBTQ, which is illegal in the region. The launch of Marvel’s “Eternals,” which attributes a homosexual superhero, was not long ago blocked there. 

In the meantime, in New York, “West Side Story” enjoyed its entire world premiere on Nov. 29 — a somber affair owing to Sondheim getting died just times just before. 

“His incredible operate for ‘West Aspect Story’ [in 1957] to start with put him on the map, and introduced a vocation that would wholly redraw that map, reinvent the musical and theater and create a system of get the job done that past any question is as immortal as nearly anything made by a mortal can be,” director Steven Spielberg said at the event in a going tribute to the late good composer.