What’s up? It’s Emile Ennis Jr. here with Clevver News and Schitt’s Creek star and
creator Dan Levy criticized Comedy Central India for censoring a kiss between two male
characters.
Alright, so in case you missed it Schitt’s Creek completely swept this year’s Emmys.
Like literally, they won NINE EMMYS! The show is literally the best thing 2020 has seen.
If you haven’t seen the show yet it’s all up on Netflix and it’s definitely well
worth your time.
“I’m afraid you and I have arrived at an awkward moment in our parent child relationship.
I’d argue that moment happens daily.”
For those of you who haven’t binged all six seasons of Schitt’s Creek yet, I promise
I won’t reveal any major spoilers here because seriously, if you haven’t watched, you have
homework!
In short, the show is about an extremely rich family that loses their entire fortune after
being defrauded by their business manager.
The Rose family is forced to rebuild their lives with their sole remaining asset, a small
town named Schitt's Creek.
While the show follows all the funny, lighthearted moments that David, Alexis, Johnny, and Moira
run into while living in two adjacent rooms in a run-down motel… The root of the show
is really about family and love.
And the show prioritizes showing a variety of love stories.
Over the years, Schitt’s Creek has been praised for having no expressions of homophobia
in any of its storylines.
“Equality, freedom, marriage. These are the rights of every community.”
The show’s co-creator Dan Levy is openly gay and has spoken out about how important
it was for him to have all kinds of relationships represented on his show.
His character David Rose is actually pansexual and Dan told Entertianment Weekly earlier
this year that quote, “We made a conscious choice that [David’s] sexuality would never
be in danger — that the town was going to be completely accepting of everybody. I wanted
to show a projection of our own world that was kinder, show how much people can grow
and the capacity with which people can love when they are not fearing for their lives.”
And Dan’s co-star Emily Hampshire AKA Stevie Bud, also spoke to the Gay Times about how
Schitt’s Creek actually helped her come out.
She said quote, "I had to ask Dan what pansexuality was, I didn't know at all. Cut to five years
later, definitely pan.”
And so this week, Dan shared his disappointment when he came across a clip of Schitt’s Creek
that aired on Comedy Central India where they censored a kiss between two male characters.
In fact the censored clip included his character, David, and another male character.
Before we get into everything Dan said, it’s important to note that unfortunately India
isn’t as progressive when it comes to same sex marriage and relationships as some other
countries are.
According to the BBC, over the past few years, India has repealed some of its extremely outdated
laws that directly discriminated against gay sex and transgender identification, but they
still have a long way to go.
Many laws have still not been put in place for important issues like anti-discrimination
and same-sex marriage.
According to a 2019 Pew Research poll, there’s sadly still a significant amount of homophobia
present in India.
Dan Levy made his stance clear and wants to make sure his show is not censored, no matter
where it airs.
In the clip Dan shared, some of the show’s main characters like Alexis, Ted, Patrick,
Stevie, and David are playing spin the bottle.
You see Alexis, a female character, kiss Stevie, another female character. You also see Ted,
a male character, kiss Alexis. However; when it came to showing Ted kissing David, there’s
a clear edit and well you don’t see it happen.
Here’s the moment in question.
“alright who’s the lucky lady? That’s offensive. Ok anyway, respin. It actually
looks like it landed between two people. No, I know exactly who it landed on. Ted that’s
not ok. Come here big guy! Oh my gosh.”
Along with sharing the clip, Dan wrote quote, “You showed the kiss between two women,
you showed the kiss between a woman and a man, then removed the kiss between two men?
This is a show about the power of inclusivity. The censorship of gay intimacy is making a
harmful statement against that message. #loveislove”
Many fans were quick to applaud Dan for speaking out like this fan who wrote “thank you for
always calling this b******t out” And this person who said “Thank you for
making a show that truly meant the world to so many. This kind of censorship is not okay.”
This fan added “Hey @ComedyCentralIn don’t remove anything from this beautiful show that
Dan created to be free from homophobia! Removing this kiss goes directly against the message
of the show!” This fan shared the kiss that was cut out
writing “@danjlevy maybe we should just help them out!”
But others questioned why the kiss was specifically cut in India like this person who wrote “oh
whoa didnt know it was in India, that makes sense why it was cut, still very wrong but
I doubt anyone in power over there gives AF about inclusivity and celebrating love, frustrating”
And an Indian fan actually chimed in on the conversation by thanking Dan and sharing their
own experience.
They wrote “cutting the m/m kisses like this might not seem like the biggest deal
(oh the original still exists just watch it on Netflix or something!) but it’s indicative
of the homophobia still deeply pervasive in desi culture and it’s something that affects
my life every single day-” This fan continued on writing “as a first
generation immigrant and someone who spent a quarter of every year in India for most
of my life. it’s apparent in the way my mom told me to change the channel when someone
said the word lesbian because it was a ‘bad word’.-”
And this Twitter user concluded their thread writing “I’m so grateful to dan and schitt’s
creek for not giving homophobia any kind of platform and creating a world we can aspire
to live in someday but it’s obvious that we have a lot of catching up to do.”
We’re just glad that Dan stood up for his show and it’s message because it’s an
important one. It’s clear “Schitt’s Creek” has had a strong impact on fans.
If you want more on this year’s Emmy Awards, go ahead and click right over here:
Also, let us know down in the comments below what you think about Dan’s tweet calling
out Comedy Central India? I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys!