In 2002, the heroic story of Spider-Man also began in the cinema. The spider hero has been a cinema mega-success for two decades. To this day, Marvel fans also like to look at the old parts in which Tobey Maguire was still on the road as Peter Parker / Spider-Man. That’s why loyal Spidey fans quickly noticed when a scene from the original “Spider-Man” film was censored on British TV.
This is the early scene of Peter entering a wrestling tournament while still in an improvised costume and using his powers to make fun of his muscular opponent. But why did the English TV broadcaster ITV2 use the scissors? Well: A saying in this scene has been controversial on the Internet for years.
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In the scene, Peter jumps high up on the bars of the wrestling arena and looks down at his opponent. He says, “You’re wearing a cute costume,” and adds, laughing, “Did your husband give you that?” The second part has now been removed from British television. After “But you’re wearing a cute costume”, Peter already leaves his position, the provocative question is missing.
The broadcaster has not yet communicated why this was done, but it should be obvious. For several years, social media have been discussing the extent to which this scene has homophobic and thus anti-gay tendencies. To some, Peter’s “husband” line seems to insult the wrestler by assuring him of a homosexual relationship – thereby portraying being gay as something others should be ashamed of.
Fans’ opinions on the cut vary widely. While a user on Twitter writes: “This scene shows being gay as a joke and we’ve had enough of that in recent years”, while another comments on the incident: “Political correctness strikes again”.
This article first appeared on TVSPIELFILM.de.