Following the recent controversies surrounding Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness due to its inclusion of a gay character America Chavez and LGBTQIA+ themes, particularly after Saudi Arabia requested to edit out a 12-second gay reference, Cumberbatch defended Disney's decision to keep the relevant scene in the upcoming film.
Recently, a report from The Guardian claims that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia requested to remove the 12-second which featured MCU newcomer Xochitle Gomez's America Chavez talking about her 'two moms.'
On the Multiverse of Madness press tour (via Reddit), lead star Benedict Cumberbatch star opens up on Saudi Arabia's appeal, calling it an 'expected disappointment.'
Cumberbatch explained, "It is, I’m afraid, an expected disappointment. We’ve come to know from those repressive regimes that their lack of tolerance is exclusionary to people who deserve to be, not only included, but celebrated for who they are and made to feel part of a society and a culture and not punished for their sexuality. It feels truly out of step with everything that we’ve experienced as a species, let alone where we’re at globally more as a culture, but frankly it’s just even more reason why this isn’t tokenism to include an LGBTQ+ community member."
The MCU vet noted that Chavez is a character from Marvel Comics and was included in the film for how awesome she is, "not for the sake of diversity." "This character is that from the comics. It’s not something we’ve created for the sake of diversity. We’ve included her because of how awesome she is as a character. And that’s just one aspect of her character and that’s all it should be, but sadly, it’s also now, politically, very charged. And I wish it wasn’t."
Cumberbatch concluded by urging Hollywood to push for Inclusion and equality.
"I wish we could be having a normalized conversation about this where it wasn’t an issue but we’re not. So we still have to fight. We still have to push for inclusion and equality and I’m very glad in a small, but on a very big canvas, Marvel and Disney are doing that."
America Chavez is an openly gay character from its source material, and the MCU certainly would develop her live-action version as a representation of an LGBTQIA+ character. Lastly, the origins and backstory of a new MCU character are very pivotal, as that is usually where the character drew their motivation as an MCU character. Cutting out some relevant scenes that discuss America Chavez's history might confuse the viewers, especially if it dives into the character's sexuality when fans are already expecting a gay reference from the character.
As of the moment, Disney has not yet released any statement about the issue.
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