Neon Pulls 'Together' From Chinese Theaters After Unauthorized AI Edit of Gay Wedding Scene

The horror film "Together," starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, faced controversy in China when its distributor, Hishow, used AI to alter a key scene involving a gay wedding, changing one of the men to a woman and thereby depicting a heterosexual couple instead. Neon, the film's global distributor, condemned the unauthorized edit and demanded the cessation of its distribution in China, leading to the film being pulled from theaters there. This alteration sparked backlash on social media and raised concerns about censorship, queer representation, and the use of AI technology to alter film content to comply with Chinese cultural and political sensitivities. The altered scene is pivotal for the film's narrative, and its modification fundamentally changes the story's context and undermines the filmmakers' creative vision. This incident highlights a new method of LGBTQ censorship in China, where AI is used not only to remove but to replace queer representation, contrasting with previous examples like "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Fantastic Beasts," which faced more traditional cuts. The controversy also underscores the precarious state of queer visibility in global media and the challenges posed by emerging technologies in enforcing state or market-driven censorship.