Looks like Carol Aird won’t be joining the mile high club.
After Ellen reports that Delta Airlines is showing a different edit of Carol, the Oscar-nominated film about two women who fall in love in 1950s New York. The altered version removes all of the kisses between Carol (Cate Blanchett) and her younger lover Therese (Rooney Mara).
Out comedian Cameron Esposito discovered this and tweeted up a storm about her disapproval of the edits:
Watched CAROL on a plane & they edited it so the main characters never even kiss. Booooooo.
Two women kissing is fine for planes.
— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) August 3, 2016
BTW my seatmate totally watching something where Paul Giamatti was participating in BDSM w/ a lady but CAROL had no kissing!?
VERY MAD.
— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) August 3, 2016
A bunch of queer gals responded that they watched CAROL on a plane & didn't know the main characters kiss. THEY KISS https://t.co/XTAU19BPga
— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) August 4, 2016
This is not dirty pic.twitter.com/zDOZMDIGXS
— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) August 3, 2016
@cameronesposito @Delta wait WHAT?! I watched this on a plane and at the end was literally like "wow I can't believe they didn't even kiss"
— ˗ˏˋ AW ˊˎ˗ (@allisonweiss) August 3, 2016
@cameronesposito oh wow I never actually knew there was a kiss because I've ONLY watched the @Delta version
— nicolette mason (@nicolettemason) August 3, 2016
Even “Same Love” singer Mary Lambert was tricked by the airline:
@cameronesposito @Delta wait WHAT!? I saw it on a Delta flight and thought that the director/producer chose that creatively.
— Mary Lambert (@marylambertsing) August 3, 2016
@cameronesposito @Delta I was like "oh wow crazy sexual tension with no release- poor gay ladies" BUT COME ON. Crazy.
— Mary Lambert (@marylambertsing) August 3, 2016
Carol screenwriter, Phyllis Nagy responded on Twitter letting viewers know which airlines decided to show the theatrical version with kissing:
@trishbendix @Delta domestic airlines that took the theatrical rather than edited version: American and United.
— Phyllis Nagy (@PhyllisNagy) August 4, 2016
After Ellen reached out to Delta for a comment and Corporate Communications representative Liz Savadelis responded:
“There were two versions of this film that the studio makes available–one that is edited and one that is not edited. The edited version removes two explicit scenes that do not meet our guidelines. The edited version also removes all kissing. The other version is fully non-edited and includes the kissing, but it also includes the explicit scenes. Unfortunately, Delta doesn’t have the rights to edit the movie, or to make the decision to keep some of that content (e.g. kissing). Because of the explicit scenes included in the non-edited version, we chose the edited version. This is consistent with what is available to all airlines.”
.@Delta's forwarding my concerns about kiss-free CAROL to their Is It Ok When Two Women Kiss Team! https://t.co/7rUnDhXQpo
— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) August 4, 2016
Hopefully Delta will switch versions for future flights and passengers can watch the passionate cinematic masterpiece the way director Todd Haynes intended.