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Wednesday, Oct 17, 2012 8:30 PM UTC

Greek censors cut gay kiss from “Downton Abbey”

Greek channel NET censored a same-sex kiss to comply with "parental guidance warnings"

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Topics: Homophobia, Downton Abbey, Gay Rights, Greece, Television, homosexuality, , ,

Greek censors cut gay kiss from Downton Abbey cast arriving for the National Television Awards, O2, London. (Credit: Featureflash / Shutterstock.com)

Spoiler alert: In the first episode of the new season of “Downton Abbey,” Downton’s footman Thomas Barrow and a visiting duke share a kiss. But if you watched the episode in Greece on Monday, you didn’t see it — because it was censored.

The episode aired on the NET channel and according to BBC, it “removed the scene to comply with parental guidance viewing rules.” The channel says the full episode broadcasted early morning on Tuesday.

“The love affair between the two men… was not censored,” said Costas Spyropoulos, managing director of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. ”The kiss was not shown because of the time the programme was broadcast and the corresponding parental guidance warnings,” he added.

The BBC reports that “viewers complained about the edit on social networking sites” and the country’s main opposition party called it ”an obvious case of censorship,” describing it as ”an extreme act of homophobia and discrimination which … we cannot characterize as unprecedented.”

The irony wasn’t lost on everyone:

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Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com. More Prachi Gupta.

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