God’s Own Country director calls for answers after claims gay sex scenes were cut from film

Francis Lee has demanded an explanation after his film appeared to have been censored without his knowledge

Filmmaker Francis Lee has sought answers after gay sex scenes in his movie God’s Own Country were claimed to have been censored without his knowledge.

The 2017 British film stars Josh O’Connor and Alec Secăreanu as a pair of Yorkshire farmhands who fall in love. According to a number of viewers, who have tweeted their complaints at Lee and expressed outrage on the film’s Amazon Prime review page, the film’s two sex scenes no longer appear intact if the film is streamed on Prime.

“Dear friends in [the] USA,” Lee wrote on Twitter, “God’s Own Country appears to have been censored on Prime Video.

“Until this is investigated please do not rent or buy on Amazon Prime. It is not the film I intended or made. I will report back.”

Other viewers reported that the version of God’s Own Country available to Prime subscribers for free streaming has been cut, while the version of the film available for purchase has not been.

“The one that you can stream for free if you have Prime has been censored – which annoyed me – but if you buy it via Prime Video (as I did) then it hasn’t,” wrote one Twitter user. “I don’t know why cuts were needed. Then again, the US gets squeamish about male nudity and especially sex between men. I love that Mr Lee’s film is fearless about it.”

After being contacted by The Independent, a representative for Amazon Prime explained that they had investigated the matter, and that the version of the film available to stream on their service was provided by the film’s distributors.

As Amazon Prime does not own the rights to God’s Own Country, it wouldn’t be legally allowed to make any changes to the film.​

Shortly after, Lee tweeted that he too had learned that his film was cut by the US distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films, claiming that they had “butchered the streaming version without consultation”. He also thanked Amazon for “being incredibly supportive in rectifying” the matter.