“What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this,” Jimmy Kimmel said in his opening monologue that kicked off this week’s return of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” after the show was pulled off the air last week. It’s a slippery slope, Kimmel hammered home, when the government starts censoring material it doesn’t approve of.
Outside the United States, well, things are sometimes far worse. Over in China, for example, the theatrical release of NEON’s body horror movie Together is making headlines this week for a particularly vile use of AI that effectively erased a gay wedding scene from the film. AI was used, Dread Central reports, to turn the face of a male actor into the face of a woman.
“The edit does more than alter a brief moment of representation,” Dread writes. “The wedding scene plays a pivotal role in the film’s character development, the unfolding of its horror, and the overall narrative. By reshaping the sequence into a heterosexual marriage, this new cut fundamentally alters the film’s context and undermines the creative choices of its filmmakers.”
It was apparently Chinese distributor Hishow that made the digital alterations to Together, and the disturbing misuse of technology has prompted a response from US distributor NEON.
NEON said in a statement to Deadline, “NEON does not approve of Hishow’s unauthorized edit of the film and have demanded they cease distributing this altered version.”
ADAM AND STEVE TO ADAM AND EVE
Here’s a use of AI I bet you never thought of! The horror film “Together” featured a gay couple in a peripheral role (see below) that got magicked into a straight couple in the Chinese edition.
No spoilers, but this definitely makes the film make… pic.twitter.com/bsxw5019uj
— Angelica
(@AngelicaOung) September 17, 2025
According to Deadline’s report, the digitally altered cut of Together was released into theaters in China earlier this month, but has reportedly already now been pulled from release.
Deadline notes, “China is known for its fierce editing of U.S. pics to meet the political and cultural sensibility of the nation’s moviegoers. That said, a UCLA study found that respondents in mainland China agreed with viewpoints that are favorable toward LGBTQ people there.”
Together marks the feature debut of writer-director Michael Shanks.
Dave Franco and Alison Brie star as a couple who find their relationship at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other.
With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural foe threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.
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