The White Lotus season 3 gets censored in India: No, it’s not the incest plot

The edited scene from The White Lotus season 3 in question had no connection to the show's contentious incest storyline.

HBO's The White Lotus is notorious for pushing boundaries with its explicit content, so it's no shocker that some scenes got everyone talking, especially the incest sequence. However, in India, a surprisingly tame scene got edited from streaming platform JioHotstar, while a rather scandalous threesome scene slipped through the cracks!

The third season of the American satirical comedy-drama anthology series, created, written, and directed by Mike White, premiered on HBO on February 16, 2025 (Patrick Schwarzenegger (Instagram))

The White Lotus gets censored in India

The edited scene in question had no connection to the show's contentious incest storyline, which has already sparked criticism in several countries. Instead, the opening scene was the one that got cut. It is believed that the scene got chopped as it contained profanity directed at a religious figure.

In the opening scene of Season 3, Nicholas Duvernay’s character hurls expletives at a Buddha statue, which the makers added to show the character’s cultural ignorance during a relaxing getaway in Thailand.

“What the f**k! I said, don’t let anything happen to my mother, motherf---er,” he said.

The scene has been censored in India. In the edited footage on JioHotstar, Zion is seen praying to the Buddha statue, but the scenes with expletives have been cut entirely. As per IndieWire, the streamer censored the scene without permission from HBO or a government mandate.

About The White Lotus

The third season of the American satirical comedy-drama anthology series, created, written, and directed by Mike White, premiered on HBO on February 16, 2025. The series follows the lives of the staff and wealthy guests at a wellness resort in Thailand Apart from Jason Isaacs, the show also stars Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Jon Gries, Sarah Catherine Hook, Lalisa Manobal, Michelle Monaghan, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Tayme Thapthimthong, and Aimee Lou Wood, among others, in key roles. The series is available to watch in India on Jio Hotstar.