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Theater apologizes for 'controversial' poster

Jakarta Post - December 14, 2015

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Yogyakarta – The Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada Theater (TGM) has apologized for a poster advertising its performance entitled Masihkah ada Cinta D(ar)i Kampus Biru (Is there any love at the blue campus?), considered to be lesbian-nuanced.

Deputy dean of Gadjah Mada University's School of Social and Political Sciences, Muhammad Najib Azka, said the poster, which depicted two girls about to kiss, was not the performance's official poster as it had been replaced. He said the school did not approve of the old draft poster but it had appeared in public three days prior to the performance on Saturday night.

"They finally clarified the chronology and apologized because the draft created public controversy," Najib said as quoted by tempo.co on Sunday.

In its explanation, TGM said that the performance had nothing to do with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. It said it had simply used an actress to play the main male character in the play.

"With this clarification and apology, we therefore call on parties who have distributed the poster to delete it from social media or related broadcast groups and to stop all attempts at spreading the poster," the apology read.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/14/islands-focus-theater-apologizes-controversial-poster.html.