‘God’s Own Country’ Director Francis Lee Says His Gay Romance Film “Was Censored on Amazon Prime”

Director Francis Lee says that his film God’s Own Country—a gay romance that features several sex scenes—was censored when it began streaming on Amazon Prime Video in the United States.

On Tuesday night, the British filmmaker 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”

A spokesperson for Amazon told Decider that Amazon Prime Video did not censor the movie, but that the edited version was uploaded by the provider, Samuel Goldwyn Films, via the Amazon Prime uploader service, Prime Video Direct.

Starring Josh O’Connor and Alec Secăreanu, God’s Own Country first premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2017, where it won the world cinema directing award. It tells the story of a sheep farmer in Yorkshire (O’Connor) who meets a Romanian migrant worker (Secăreanu). The two men start working together, sleeping together, and falling in love together, in that order. While Lee didn’t specify what, exactly, had been censored, the film does feature sex scenes between the two leads, including full-frontal nudity. It’s been compared to Call Me By Your Name, another gay romance which came out the same year, but, rather than pan away during the sex scene as director Luca Guadagnino did, Lee lets the scene play out.

When asked for a comment from Decider on the nature of the censorship, Lee said he was “unable to make comment until it has been investigated fully.”

Censorship of LGBTQ content has long been an issue. Onward was banned in several Middle Eastern countries for a mere reference to a lesbian relationship, and films like Avengers: Endgame and Rocketman were censored in Russia to edit out gay references. Last year, Booksmart director chastised airlines for censoring out the lesbian sex scene when showing her film as an in-flight movie. Following Wilde’s tweets about the scene being cut, Delta Airlines said the company would return same-sex love scenes to Booksmart.

UPDATE, May 20, 3:40 p.m. ET: On Wednesday afternoon, Lee tweeted that the film’s U.S. distributor, Samuel Goldwyn Films, was to blame for the censorship and that the correct version of his film is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime.

“Dear USA friends, after investigation God’s Own Country was not censored by @PrimeVideo(Amazon USA) but by the US distributor @GoldwynFilms who butchered the streaming version without consultation to get more ‘revenue’. @PrimeVideo were incredibly supportive in rectifying,” Lee wrote in a tweet. “The rental version of God’s Own Country on @PrimeVideo is the correct version of my film. I would like to thank Amazon Prime for being supportive and I would caution any film maker of working with the aforementioned ‘distributor’. Thank you EVERYONE for all your support”

You can rent or buy God’s Own Country on Amazon Prime Video now.

This article has been updated, first to include a statement from a spokesperson at Amazon Prime Video, and then to include the new tweets from Lee.

Where to watch God's Own Country