We didn’t order sex & drugs scenes to be cut from Elton John biopic, Russian culture ministry says

Elton John’s musical biopic ‘Rocketman’ has hit Russian cinemas with a bit of a scandal. The singer criticized cutting out sex scenes as “censorship.” The culture ministry says it had nothing to do with the distributor’s decision.

“We reject in the strongest possible terms the decision to censor ‘Rocketman’ for the Russian market,” a post on the singer’s Facebook page says. “Paramount Pictures have been brave and bold partners in allowing us to create a film which is a true representation of Elton’s extraordinary life, warts and all.” It further laments that the audience was denied “the opportunity to see the film as it was intended.”

Russian moviegoers won’t see some scenes involving kissing and oral sex between men and drug use, amounting to around five minutes. The changes were made in accordance to the country’s laws, the distributor said. Russian legislation prohibits propaganda of homosexual relations and pornography to minors.

“There were no demands from the ministry of culture,” said the head of its cinematography department Olga Lyubimova. “None of us have even seen the movie.”

The film is rated R in the US, as Elton John put it he didn’t have a “a PG-13 rated life,” although some studios asked him “to tone down sex and drugs.” In Russia the movie is rated 18+, but in fact children of any age can be admitted to the cinema with a grown up.

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