Russia gives Beauty and the Beast adults-only rating

Mar 8, 2017- After pressure to ban Disney’s live-action take on Beauty and the Beast over a minor gay character, the film will instead be released with a 16+ rating in Russia.
The family movie, starring Emma Watson, will be given the restricted certificate to prevent children from watching because of the studio’s first “exclusively gay moment” involving a character played by Josh Gad.

Certification in Russia is decided by the ministry of culture. Last week ruling party MP Vitaly Milonov called for a ban, referring to the film’s content as “perverted sexual relations” that would be in direct opposition to a Russian law that cracks down on “gay propaganda against minors”.
“I’m convinced that the main task of the state regarding children is to protect childhood and youth from the filthiness of the world, to preserve children’s purity, to block our children off from harmful and dangerous phenomena,” he said. “And in this case, our shared task is to not allow the release of this musical on the screen under any guise.”