Amazon Prime censors gay sex scenes in God’s Own Country

God’s Own Country director Francis Lee has urged people in the US not to watch the movie on Amazon Prime.

The streaming service has apparently cut gay sex scenes from the film. And Lee says the British drama is no longer ‘the film I intended or made’.

He tweeted: ‘Dear friends in USA, God’s Own Country appears to have been censored on @PrimeVideo (Amazon Prime).

‘Until this is investigated please do not rent or buy on Amazon Prime. It is not the film I intended or made. I will report back.’

Fans reported that the version you can buy on Prime Video remains intact. However, Amazon Prime has cut the version on its streaming service.

One fan said he is complaining to Amazon Prime because they’ve changed ‘the very essence of the film’. He added: ‘Johnny can not be understood and the arc of the relationship isn’t authentic.’

Meanwhile Dylan Sims said: ‘They cut most of the scene in the cattle trailer with Johnny and the trainee auctioneer and same for the scene in the mud. I stopped watching after that because it was bugging me they’d done that so I don’t know if anything else was censored.’

Award winning film based on Lee’s experiences

Lee partly based God’s Own Country on his own experiences.

It tells the story of a young sheep farmer called Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor) in Yorkshire, England. He relies on binge-drinking at the local pub and casual sex to overcome his lonely life.

However everything changes when he begins working with a Romaninan migrant worker called Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) on his family farm. Johnny finds himself dealing with new emotions and forms an intense relationship with Gheorghe.

Lee’s directorial debut won a place at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and scored 98% on movie site Rotten Tomatoes. BAFTA nominated it for an award and it picked up a host of prizes from other awards ceremonies.