Olivia Wilde Has NSFW Words About Delta’s Censorship of Lesbian Scene in ‘Booksmart’

Olivia Wilde is calling out Delta Airlines for allegedly censoring not just the lesbian hookup scene in her 2019 film Booksmart, but also simply the word “lesbian.” The controversy first began when associate editor of Flip Screened, Michaela Barton, pointed out on Twitter that while watching the Wilde-directed coming-of-age film on her flight, the entire hookup scene between Kaitlyn Dever and Diana Silvers’ characters was edited, “like not even a KISS was allowed,” despite there being numerous heterosexual kisses not cut out.

“Update, watched a different film and they had completely unedited hetero sex scenes so pretty sure it’s definitely a lesbian bias thing,” Barton added in a separate tweet.

Wilde called the news “truly a bummer,” pointing out that there is no nudity in the scene and asking for more details. When other users responded that the movie was also edited to remove the use of the word “lesbian,” while allowing expletives to remain uncensored, the film’s director spoke out in stronger terms, calling the move “bats— insane.”

Later, at the Academy’s Governors Awards Sunday, Wilde told Variety of the controversy, “I don’t understand it. 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 airplane.”

She continued, “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.”

Booksmart star Beanie Feldstein added to the outlet that she planned on figuring out what was happening to allow such outrageous censorship.

“We’re on the case to get this rectified. Our movie is a beautiful representation of the queer experience as young people,” the actor said. “I’m a queer person. So we’re getting to the bottom of it, don’t worry. If you can watch me and Skyler [Gisondo] kiss, you can watch Diana [Silvers] and Kaitlyn kiss.”

Delta also released a statement on the issue to the outlet, claiming to work with a third-party editing firm to provide its own version of films to the airline if the unedited films do not meet airline standards.

“Delta’s content parameters do not in any way ask for the removal of homosexual content from the film,” the statement reads. “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.”

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