Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story will not be showing in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar or the UAE.
West Side Story has received almost universally positive reviews and is being tipped for multiple Oscar nominations.
The big-budget musical, tipped for Oscars, has reportedly been banned because of a transgender character Anybodys, played by Iris Menas, known for Jagged Little Pill.
Anybodys, whose gender identity was vague in the original, has been made more obviously trans in the new version. While it’s never said on screen, the character receives more screen time and David Saint, executor of West Side Story author Arthur Laurents’ estate, has confirmed that Anybodys “is a character who was a man born in a female’s body.