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Russian Censors Erase Gays From Jennifer Coolidge's White Lotus Murder
In Russia, no gays were trying to murder Jennifer Coolidge.
The weirdest LGBTQ+ erasure ever.
Jennifer Coolidge reprised her role as Tanya McQuoid on The White Lotus season two. During that season, she befriended a group of fabulous and seemingly rich gay men who took her on many adventures… but who were ultimately trying to scheme and murder her.
Upon realizing what was going on during a yacht trip with her gay BFFs, Tanya delivered the instantly iconic line “these gays, they’re trying to murder me.” But according to Russian news site Meduza, this line was edited in Russia to replace “gays” with “men.” This means that Tanya just said “these men, they’re trying to murder me” on the Russian edit of The White Lotus.
Another iconic part of that interaction came from the captain of the yacht saying that they were all gay men – including himself. Once again, though, Russian censors changed that response to “we’re all men here” instead of “we’re all gay here.”
\u201cTHESE GAYS! They're trying to murder me!\u201d— Awards Daily (@Awards Daily) 1673407541
It’s widely known that Russia has laws against the promotion of homosexuality and LGBTQ+ people in general, so editing out a line about gay people is expected from the country.
With that said, this particular edit is particularly interesting for two reasons. For one, these “gays” on The White Lotus were literal criminals who were planning to murder Tanya, so this representation of gay people on TV seemed “negative” enough to please Russian censors. Secondly, replacing “gays” with “men” completely took out the humorous undertone of Coolidge’s line delivery, making it a much less powerful and hilarious line than it was intended to be.
But Russia will keep being Russia, so I guess it was expected that censors over there wouldn’t let this line slide either. It’s too bad for White Lotus viewers who didn’t get to experience just how funny this TV moment was upon watching it.
Jennifer Coolidge won the 2022 Emmy award for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie" and the 2023 Golden Globes award for "Best Supporting Actress – Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film."
The White Lotus is written by Mike White, but he did allow actors to improvise during certain scenes while filming.
Yes, Jennifer Coolidge played Paulette in 2001's Legally Blonde.
Bernardo Sim is a writer, editor, and content creator. Born in Brazil, he currently lives in South Florida. You can follow him on Instagram at @bernardosim.
Bernardo Sim is a writer, editor, and content creator. Born in Brazil, he currently lives in South Florida. You can follow him on Instagram at @bernardosim.
