A French town has been forced to axe an open air-screening of Greta Gerwig's Barbie after a group of residents threatened to interfere with the event that they claimed 'promoted' homosexuality.
The last minute cancellation of the annual event, which was due to take place last Friday in the Parisian suburb of Noisy-le-Sec, has since sparked a political debate over censorship.
Mayor Olivier Sarrabeyrouse issued a press release this week to explain why the screening of the highly regarded feminist film was scrapped, claiming that 'an extreme minority of thugs, who, no doubt, had not seen the film, [had] transformed a simple free open-air cinema screening open to all into a violent opposition movement'.
'They said that it advocates homosexuality and that it is an attack on the integrity of women,' he said, recalling that 'Barbie is a film for all audiences, which has never been banned in France'.
'I deplore the fact that a small group from the neighborhood mobilized its energy under pressure from an individual to prevent the screening of this film,' he went on to say.
