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Netflix Ceases Production In Turkey After Government Forbids Gay Plot

The Turkish economy could be taking a big hit after the streaming giant halts production on an upcoming teen series.

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A gay character in a teen comedy-drama is causing quite the dust storm in Turkey over a censorship controversy.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Turkey’s state broadcasting regulator RTÜK was looking to censor Netflix's Aşk 101 (Love 101) for the presence of a leading gay character in the series named Osman. They pressured the streaming giant to rewrite the character/storyline from the show, even though Osman "engages in no physical acts of intimacy," Ahval News reports.

\u201cAKP's Mahir \u00dcnal confessed to government pressure for "Love 101" scenario to be changed, "Netflix commissioned a series to Turkish producers and originally the Osman character was written as homosexual" confirming the claims that the series was censored.\n\nhttps://t.co/d3S223SwsR\u201d
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"We are closely watching them and will not tolerate any representation of anything that might harm our national values," said the Higher Council for Radio & TV.

And now, what began as a stand-off with the Turkish government may result in Netflix pulling productions out of the country altogether.

Netflix withdrawing from the country completely would be a big hit for the Turkish economy. The country currently has over 1.7 million users and Netflix spends millions on producing original Turkish series that are exported around the world. Ahval News reports that Turkish-produced series made over $500 million in 2018.

Netflix has not yet released a statement on the series or controversy.