Malaysia Bans 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' Calls Movie 'Pornography'

Malaysians will not be seeing Mr. Grey now.

Malaysia's board of censorship ruled that "Fifty Shades of Grey" will be banned from releasing in theaters in the country due to inappropriate sexual content. According to Variety, the film applied for the usual certification for theatrical release, which the board denied.

"The board made a decision in view of the film containing scenes that are not of natural sexual content," said board chairman Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid.

The board seems to have taken issue with the BDSM angle of the sex scenes in particular, but also apparently objects to the amount of sexual content in the movie of any kind. In fact, they referred to it as "more pornography than a movie."

That bit might only encourage some to want to see it, we think.

This isn't the only trouble the movie has run into overseas. In the UK, "Fifty Shades" has received the equivalent of an NC-17 rating, meaning that no one under the age of 18 will be allowed to see the film. That is despite the movie earning an R rating from the MPAA in the US.

Outside of the ratings and censorship battle, there are other groups that hope to have the movie shut down...but not because they hope to censor sex. Rather, a number of groups including BDSM communities and groups that advocate for victims of domestic abuse have protested the movie's release, claiming that it misrepresents consensual BDSM and is more akin to an abusive relationship.

In fact, a movement called #50DollarsNot50Shades hopes to have people donate money to charities that fight domestic abuse instead of seeing the movie.

In any case, buzz (good or bad) around the movie is building in anticipation of the February 13 release date.