Olivia Wilde Calls Out Airlines for Censoring ‘Booksmart’ Lesbian Sex Scene

Olivia Wilde is not happy that the lesbian sex scene in Booksmart has been removed for airline screenings. On Sunday, the actress-turned-director brought attention to the issue when she retweeted a post about an airline cutting the film’s lesbian sex scene while keeping in straight kissing scenes. Later that night, Wilde told Variety‘s Marc Malkin that she’s “trying to get to the bottom” of the “censorship” issue, as she wants “people to experience the entire film.” Added the Booksmart director, “My heart just broke.”

Over the weekend, Wilde retweeted a message from someone who watched Booksmart on an airplane and found the experience lacking. “They cut the ENTIRE lesbian hookup scene like not even a KISS was allowed!” wrote writer Michaela Barton. “Oh but don’t worry guys, the Straights got their kiss.” Wilde wrote that the situation is “truly a bummer,” as “there is no nudity in this scene.” (**Spoilers ahead for Booksmart**) The scene in question features a bathroom hookup between Kaitlyn Dever and Diana Silvers, but the more intense moments (there’s some digital penetration) happens off-screen; on-screen, viewers just see them kissing and touching.

When asked about the controversy at the Academy’s Governors Awards on Sunday night, Wilde insisted that she doesn’t see why an airline would cut the scene. “There’s censorship, airline to airline, of films, which there must be some kind of governing board to determine. We rate it a certain way. If it’s not X-rated, surely it’s acceptable on an airplane,” she told Variety. “There’s insane violence of bodies being smashed in half and yet a love scene between two women is censored from the film. It’s such an integral part of this character’s journey. I don’t understand it. My heart just broke. I’m trying to get to the bottom of it; I want people to experience the entire film.”

While Wilde did not mention which airline (or airlines) censored the film, some Twitter users wrote that they experienced a similar issue while watching Booksmart on a Delta flight. On Monday, Wilde retweeted another viewer who wrote that Delta “also cut the use of the word lesbian and not legitimate expletives.” Wrote the director, “Censoring the word lesbian is just batshit insane.”

According to Variety, Delta released a statement on Monday in an attempt to diffuse the public outcry. “Delta’s content parameters do not in any way ask for the removal of homosexual content from the film,” said the airline. “We value diversity and inclusion as core to our culture and our mission and will review our processes to ensure edited video content doesn’t conflict with these values.”

A Delta spokesperson also told Variety that the airline uses “a third-party editing company” that creates its own version of every film shown on the airline. “If anything in the unedited version of the movie does not meet Delta’s guidelines, then Delta runs the third party’s edit of the film, regardless of whether further aspects of the film that don’t violate Delta’s guidelines have also been removed,” writes Variety’s Latesha Harris. “Delta declined to provide the airline’s standards and guidelines for in-flight movies, and the spokesperson said he was not aware what part of the unedited version of Booksmart did not meet Delta’s guidelines.”

Where to stream Booksmart