‘Spider-Man’ Edited by Britain’s ITV to Remove Peter Parker’s Homophobic Joke
Zack Sharf British television network ITV aired Sam Raimi’s 2002 superhero classic “Spider-Man” without one line of dialogue during an April 23 broadcast on ITV2.
The network removed a joke in the movie deemed by many viewers over the years as blatantly homophobic. The line occurs early in the film when Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) enters a wrestling competition with his newfound superhero powers.“That’s a cute outfit.
Did your husband give it to you?” Peter Parker says to his opponent in the censored line. ITV removed part of the quote (“Did your husband give it to you?”) so that Peter only says, “That’s a cute outfit.”“We carefully consider the suitability of content we broadcast and appropriateness of language used to ensure that it meets audience expectations, especially when intended for family viewing,” ITV said in a statement to Variety.
News of ITV removing a homophobic joke in “Spider-Man” comes as the industry takes various approaches to releasing LGBTQ content worldwide.
