WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR 'STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER'
A brief scene showing a celebratory same-sex kiss between two minor characters has been removed from the screenings of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" in Singapore.
The clip was removed so Disney, the movie studio behind the sci-fi saga, wouldn't receive a higher age rating.
"The applicant has omitted a brief scene which under the film classification guidelines would require a higher rating," a spokesperson from Infocomm Media Development Authority said, the country's governmental body of media regulations, said according to The Guardian.
Sex between two men is illegal and punished by law in the wealthy city-state in Southeast Asia. Films depicting LGBTQ content are subject to censorship.
In an interview with Variety published on Dec. 3, the movie director J.J. Abrams talked about the importance of queer representation within the "Star Wars" universe.
"In the case of the LGBTQ community, it was important to me that people who go to see this movie feel that they're being represented in the film," he said during a press junket.
The don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it kiss left some fans less than enthusiastic about the director's attempt at displaying same-sex love.
It happened between two women who are a part of the Resistance, but who are not major "Star Wars" characters. They shared a kiss during a joyful moment.
In an interview with MovieZine published to YouTube Friday, Abrams defended the subtlety of the kiss saying that the celebratory scene "felt like an opportunity to show (an LGBTQ kiss) without it being heavy-handed or making too loud of a deal."
"Part of the whole experience was to see a same-sex couple have a moment together that was explicitly saying in this galaxy, everyone is there and is welcome. It doesn't matter your sexual preference, your race, your species, whether you're organic, whether you're synthetic _ 'Star Wars' is for everyone," he added.
