In the aftermath of the announcement that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman had canceled the cinema release of Marvel’s Eternals due to censorship concerns, actor Angelina Jolie spoke out about the “ignorant” move.

Jolie reacted to reports of the Marvel picture being discreetly withdrawn off screens in some Middle Eastern nations, including a story that Disney refused to edit parts out of the film to please local censors, during a press conference in Australia for news.com.au.

She said: “I’m sad for [those audiences]. And I’m proud of Marvel for refusing to cut those scenes out. I still don’t understand how we live in a world today where there’s still [people who] would not see the family Phastos has and the beauty of that relationship and that love.

“How anybody is angry about it, threatened by it, doesn’t approve or appreciate it is ignorant.”

The nations demanded that Marvel remove such love scenes before the film’s November 11 global release. When the studio declined to censor the Chloe Zhao-directed film, movie theater websites in nations where homosexuality is banned seemed to remove Eternals as an upcoming feature.

Previous Disney films, such as Pixar’s “Onward,” suffered similar prohibitions in Russia due to LGBTQ material when they debuted in 2020. Some Middle Eastern nations, however, have been known to prohibit the screening of films for a number of reasons, including intimacy, violence, or sexuality, among others.

Although Eternals has been banned in several countries, it appears that they would be granted screening rights if the homosexual kissing sequences were deleted.

In an earlier interview with Indiewire, the film’s director, Chloé Zhao, hinted on negotiations with Marvel and Disney about eliminating specific elements for censors throughout the world.

“I don’t know all the details, but I do believe discussions were had and there’s a big desire from Marvel and myself — we talked about this — to not change the cut of the movie. Fingers crossed,” Zhao said.

Eternals, which was released in theaters in the United States on Friday, November 5, made history by becoming the first Marvel film to prominently feature a same-sex relationship. Superhero Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) even enjoys a steamy kiss with his husband, Ben (Haaz Sleiman) in the film.

Sleiman described the picture as “life-saving” in an interview with Variety, saying he wishes he had seen something like “Eternals” as a youngster.

“I wish I had that when I was a kid to see this. My god. I wish! Can you imagine how many lives this is going to be saving — kids, young queer folk, who are being bullied, committing suicide, and not seeing themselves being represented? And now they get to see this — it’s above and beyond,” Sleiman said.

Eternals is Marvel Studios’ 26th film, and it follows the story of ten immortal superpowered creatures who have been fighting the Deviants for 7000 years.