The government in Ankara claimed the show violated its censorship laws because of the depiction of a fictional Turkish leader, played by actor Troy Caylak, as a villain.įollowing the failed military coup in July 2016, the conservative government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led a nationwide crackdown on freedom of expression. Earlier this year, local authorities issued a take-down order for an episode of political thriller Designated Survivor, which streams on Netflix in Turkey.
“We did not edit Love 101 to remove an LGBTQ character from the show - there never was one in the first place,” Netflix said at the time.īut this is not the first time Turkey has censored Netflix. The company had denied accusations it removed a gay character from another Turkish original, Love 101, under pressure from Ankara. A Netflix representative noted that the streamer’s shows with LGBTQ content, such as Orange Is the New Black or Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood, air uncensored on its Turkish platform.
This is the first time Turkey has intervened directly to censor a Netflix show in the territory.
