Though Kuwait’s Information Ministry has yet to release an official statement, local media speculate that the reported ban is on account of an unnamed gay character.

Wicked was removed from local cinema listings in Kuwait the day before it was set to premiere in the region, sparking speculation from local media and online that the movie is being censored there due to its LGBTQ+ cast or themes.

On Wednesday, Variety reported on the film’s disappearance, though Kuwait’s Information Ministry has yet to release an official statement on what local news outlets are already calling a “ban.”

There is precedent for Kuwait’s banning of American films; last summer, the Kuwaiti government banned Greta Gerwig’s Barbie from being shown in movie theaters, claiming that the film promotes “ideas and beliefs that are alien to the Kuwaiti society and public order” in a statement published by the state-run KUNA news agency, per the Associated Press. Although the statement did not elaborate further, media outlets including the AP speculated that the ban might be a consequence of the movie’s general flamboyant aesthetics and tone, even though Barbie doesn’t explicitly mention LGBTQ+ people. (Homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment in Kuwait.) An analysis from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, however, attributed Kuwait’s censorship of the film to a hostility toward Western feminism, rather than LGBTQ+ aesthetics or casting. Last year, Kuwait also banned the A24 horror film Talk To Me, specifically citing the inclusion of nonbinary transmasculine actor Zoe Terakes.

Local media outlets have speculated that the reported ban on Wicked might be due to the inclusion of an unnamed gay character. While the movie itself is beloved by gay people, and is certainly laden with queer subtext and loud, aesthetic splendor, there is no character whose queerness is explicitly named in the film.

The unnamed character could be Glinda’s friend Pfannee (Bowen Yang) who, in a brief scene, swoons and appears flustered by the charm and attractiveness of an (arguably bisexual-coded) Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey).

The cast itself also contains a number of openly LGBTQ+ actors. Cynthia Erivo, who plays the lead Elphaba, came out as bisexual in British Vogue in 2022, and is currently in a relationship with Lena Waithe. Bailey and Yang are also both out as gay, as well as Marissa Bode, who plays Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose.