Samoa bans Elton John film 'Rocketman' over gay scenes
June 11, 2019
The country's chief censor said the movie "doesn't go well with Christian beliefs here." However, some in Samoa have pointed out what they claim is hypocrisy in cultural attidues towards the LGBT community.
The South Pacific nation of Samoa said on Tuesday that it was banning the film "Rocketman" about the life of musician Elton John, over its depictions of gay romance. Gay sex can attract jail terms of up to seven years in the small nation of only 196,000 inhabitants.
Samoa's Principal Censor Leiataua Niuapu confirmed the ban, saying that the film was "not good for public viewing."
He told the Samoa Observer that the movie "violates laws against same-sex marriage and doesn't go well with cultural and Christian beliefs here."
"It's a good story, in that it's about an individual trying to move on in life," Niuapu said.
"He (Elton John) went through a difficult family life and managed to move on and become very successful. But there are acts that are not good for public viewing and against the law."
Christianity is the official religion of Samoa. However, many were keen to point out that films like last year's "Bohemian Rhapsody" were not banned, and neither were movies depicting acts like murder and premarital sex.
'There are more important issues'
Samoa is also known for its acceptance of fa'afafines, also called the "third sex" locally. Fa'afafines are men who dress as women and usually adopt what are considered feminine mannerisms.
"This censorship is yet another way for moral seekers to bash a few people for no good reason," said Tuisina Ymania Brown, a fa'afafine who is also co-secretary of the Geneva-based International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Assocation (ILGA).
Brown said that banning "Rocketman" was a slap in the face to a group that was part of Samoa's cultural heritage.
Elton John: The ever-contemporary pop legend turns 75
With his extravagant style and legendary songs like "Crocodile Rock," "Candle in the Wind" and "Rocketman," Elton John became a pop icon.
Image: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images For Global Citizen
Eccentric with a big heart
Born on March 25,1947 as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started as a pub pianist as a teenager and went on to dominate Britain's pop scene in the 1970s, creating a lasting impact on the music industry. In the US, Elton John was one of the first artists to have four records in the Top 10 simultaneously. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1998 for his contributions to music and charity.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/T. Hase
Flashy appearances
Elton John is not very tall. And not a classic beauty either. The pop star has compensated for this from the very beginning: with the most shrill stage outfits, colorful clothes, feather boa, platform shoes and extreme glasses. He started his career at the beginning of the 1970s with a few excellent songs in tow, which wrote together with his lyricist, Bernie Taupin.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Goebel
Big hits, big pianos
Elton John at the piano — an iconic image. Here, the living legend is seen playing "Your Song" at the start of his 2000 British tour. It was his heartfelt breakthrough title in 1970, his first single in the charts, a song that hit the top 10 in the UK and the US. After that, there was no stopping Elton John.
Image: imago/United Archives
Rocket Man
He worked incessantly, releasing three studio albums in 1971 alone. His biggest hits were all produced in the 1970s, "Rocket Man," "Crocodile Rock," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Candle in the Wind." Duets with John Lennon ("Whatever Gets You Through the Night") and Kiki Dee ("Don't Go Breaking My Heart") elevated Elton John to a pop titan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/empics
Devotion to football
By 1976, Elton John was flush enough to finance another passion: soccer. He supported the Watford Football Club, a move that catapulted the team from fourth division to the Premier League, and invested in the Los Angeles Aztecs. Above, Irish football legend George Best watches the pop star in action.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images
Swinging the racket to fight AIDS
An advocate for gay and lesbian rights, he founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in the early 1990s. John helped organize regular charity events — and he participated, too, like in the above 2016 celebrities' charity tennis tournament.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/I. Brekken
The princess and the pop king
Elton John's best friends included George Michael (right) and Lady Diana. Diana and Elton had one thing in common — the press is — or was — constantly chasing them. Here, the three met at the Live Aid concert in 1985.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Through thick and thin
Diana and Elton John had a common close friend: fashion designer Gianni Versace. He was murdered in July 1997. At his funeral service in Milan, thousands of mourners gathered — including Princess Diana and Elton John, seen here. Stunned, they bid farewell to their friend. John had no idea that the next stroke of fate would follow only a short time later.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A.Farinacci
Candle in the Wind
Lady Diana died from injuries suffered in a car crash in August 1997. Elton John then rewrote the lyrics to "Candle in the Wind," a song he originally penned for Marilyn Monroe in the 1970s. Elton John performed the song at Diana's funeral. The recording sold millions of copies and raised millions for charity.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
Married to Renate
Elton John came out as bisexual in 1976. He married the German sound engineer Renate Blauel in 1984. The marriage lasted four years. Two years after the break-up, Elton John declared his homosexuality.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Married to David
In 2005, Elton John and David Furnish documented their civil partnership, which was formally converted into a marriage nine years later. "As a gay man I am perfectly happy with my sexuality and my life. I can honestly say that the deepest longings of my heart are satisfied," John said in response to a Scottish cardinal's remarks about homosexuality.
Image: picture-alliance/newscom/J. Angelillo
Four guys, one family
The couple adopted two boys, Zachary Jackson Levon and Elijah Joseph Daniel. Both children have the same surrogate mother — but whether John or Furnish is the biological dad remains a well-kept secret.
Image: picture alliance/abaca
Best friend and godmother: Lady Gaga
Zachary and Elijah have a famous godmother: Lady Gaga. She provides an additional shrill note in the family. She and Elton John are close friends. In February 2016, shown here, the two gave a concert on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood — as a thank-you for supporting his AIDS foundation.
Image: Getty Images/P. Le Segretain
Still energized by music
During the COVID lockdown, he recorded a collaborative album, "The Lockdown Sessions," released in October 2021. He pursues his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour of more than 300 gigs worldwide that started in 2018. Discussing his three-quarter century milestone, he told AFP: "I feel unbelievably lucky that at 75 I still love what I do so much — I'm still so energized about music."
Image: Interscope Records/AP/picture alliance
14 images1 | 14
"Now are we saying that art that celebrates fa'afafines are not allowed?" she told Newsline Samoa.
"The power of the church has now reached into censoring the celebration of art. There are more important issues we should focus on, such as gender-based violence (and the) church paying taxes."
"Rocketman" focuses on Elton John's childhood and life of excess in the 1970s and 80s. While the film is not graphic, John rejected a call to tone down the drug use and sexuality, writing in The Observer: "I have not led a PG-13 life."
Both John and the film's star Taron Egerton have condemned the editing of the film in Russia to comply with the country's controversial "gay propaganda" laws. Five minutes of the movie have been cut in Russia, as well as a caption at the end of the film about how the rock star has found love with his husband David Furnish and their two children.
