Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy slams Comedy Central India for censoring kiss between two men, calls it ‘harmful’ to inclusivity

Schitt’s Creek co-creator and actor Dan Levy hit out at Comedy Central India for cutting out a kiss between his character David and Dustin Milligan’s character Ted in the show. He shared the censored promo on Twitter and said that it was ‘harmful’ to the message of inclusivity that the show advocates.

“You showed the kiss between two women, you showed the kiss between a woman and a man, then removed the kiss between two men? This is a show about the power of inclusivity. The censorship of gay intimacy is making a harmful statement against that message. #loveislove,” he wrote.

In the video shared by Comedy Central India, the characters of Schitt’s Creek are seen playing spin the bottle. While a kiss between Alexis (played by Annie Murphy) and Ted and a same-sex kiss between Alexis and Stevie (played by Emily Hampshire) are retained, the kiss between David and Ted is edited out.

 

You showed the kiss between two women, you showed the kiss between a woman and a man, then removed the kiss between two men? This is a show about the power of inclusivity. The censorship of gay intimacy is making a harmful statement against that message. #loveislove https://t.co/3ouNbuetq1

— dan levy (@danjlevy) October 6, 2020

Levy clarified in another tweet that he was disappointed with Comedy Central India, not the one in the US. “I thought I made this pretty clear but for those who are confused, this is about a channel in India. @ComedyCentral in America is not censoring the show. They have been lovely and respectful. Thank you for your time,” he wrote.

 

I thought I made this pretty clear but for those who are confused, this is about a channel in India. @ComedyCentral in America is not censoring the show. They have been lovely and respectful. Thank you for your time. ✌🏼🙃

— dan levy (@danjlevy) October 6, 2020

Schitt’s Creek was lauded for its portrayal of same-sex relationships. The show made Emmy history earlier this year by winning nine trophies, including all four wins in the acting category. One of its protagonists, David, identifies as pansexual and enters into a relationship with another man named Patrick, whom he eventually marries.

In a 2015 interview with Flare, Levy opened up about the decision to show David as pansexual. “The more that we started exploring David and delving into his past, and what his whole life had been prior to when the show starts, it just felt like an interesting fit for him. The show is a family comedy. We wanted to approach it from a way that was very sort of normal, and by that I mean that the family was aware of it, they had been for a while. It wasn’t one of those, ‘Let’s teach a lesson about pansexuality’ episodes. It was just who he was and who his family had accepted him to be,” he had said.

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