Algeria becomes latest country to ban ‘Barbie’ movie for ‘promoting homosexuality’

Algeria has banned “Barbie” after showing it in cinemas across the country for several weeks because the film “promotes homosexuality and other Western deviance”. Reuters reported. An official source told Reuters that billionaire box office hit Greta Gerwig “is not at odds with Algeria’s religious and cultural beliefs.”

The film was also banned in Lebanon and Kuwait for allegedly threatening conservative cultural values. Vietnam has also taken an anti-Barbie stance after the country’s officials objected to the film’s depiction of a map containing the “nine-dash line,” a controversial U-shaped representation of China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea .

An Algerian news site, 24H Algerie said that since the film’s release, despite being banned for “violating morals,” screenings have been sold out every day. Some Algerians are taking to social media to protest the ban, posting their grievances using the hashtag “#IAmBarbie”. Others have denounced the step out of the culture ministry as “censorship” and “bigotry.” The Ministry of Culture has full autonomy to block and ban films that do not conform to the country’s values.