Sia apologises over controversial Music scenes and deactivates Twitter account: ‘I listened to the wrong people’

Artist says she will cut controversial scenes from the Golden Globe-nominated film

Sia has apologised to the autism community and appears to have deactivated her Twitter account over the backlash to her film, Music.

Addressing the project after it received two Golden Globe nominations, the artist pledged to cut the most controversial scenes and add a warning about the use of restraint on autistic people.

“I promise, have been listening. The motion picture MUSIC will, moving forward, have this warning at the head of the movie,” she wrote, according to Variety.

The warning she has pledged to include reads: “MUSIC in no way condones or recommends the use of restraint on autistic people. There are autistic occupational therapists that specialise in sensory processing who can be consulted to explain safe ways to provide proprioceptive, deep-pressure feedback to help with meltdown safety.”

Music has faced major criticism over its portrayal of autism, particularly for scenes in which the title character (played by Maddie Ziegler) is shown being held down to calm her after a meltdown.

Read more: The biggest snubs and surprises at the Golden Globe nominations

Sia said she plans to remove the restraint scenes “from all future printings. I listened to the wrong people and that is my responsibility, my research was clearly not thorough, not wide enough. I’m sorry.”

The singer then appeared to delete her Twitter account.

Previously, Sia had hit back against criticism of her film, insisting she consulted with experts and neurodivergent people before making the film.

“Grrrrrrrrrr. F***ity f*** why don’t you watch my film before you judge it? FURY,” she wrote in one response to the backlash.

Responding to the film’s nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, Sia wrote on Instagram: “This movie is a love letter to everyone who has ever felt they didn’t have a voice.”

She added: “What an incredible, exciting and unbelievable experience. Congratulations to all the cast and crew, and thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press. What an honour.”