Fifty Shades of Grey has been banned in Malaysia for being more “pornography than a movie.”

Malaysia Bans Fifty Shades

Malaysian Film Censorship Board (LPF) chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid announced this week that the sexy, R-rated film would not be shown in Malaysian movie theaters, saying, “The board made a decision in view of the film containing scenes that are not of natural sexual content.”

The Board added that it was particularly disturbed by bondage sex scenes in the film: “The content is more sadistic, featuring scenes of a woman being tied to a bed and whipped.”

#50DollarsNot50Shades

The Film Censorship Board of Malaysia isn’t the only one that has a problem with the film. An online campaign is calling for audiences to skip Fifty Shades and donate to a local women’s shelter instead. The campaign, which is taking place mostly on Twitter, uses the hashtag #50DollarsNot50Shades and says that the film promotes sexual abuse.

Despite the controversy raised by these campaigns, no amount of protests will likely affect the film’s success. Fifty Shades of Grey is already the fastest selling R-rated movie in Fandango pre-sales, and is likely to break more records when it finally hits theaters on Friday, Feb. 13.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.